The Heart of the Jedi
by ardavenport
Summary: Master and Padawan both learn from each other and from the simple construction of a new lightsaber. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan spend some quality Temple time together.
1. Chapter 1

**The Heart of the Jedi**

by ardavenport

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ - - - Part 1

Obi-Wan Kenobi did not think, he just acted.

The heavy outer door slowly closed and he could see that even with the Force his Master was not going to make it.

Obi-Wan listened to the Force.

His blue lightsaber blade flashed out as he thrust the hilt high up into the opening. The steady friction of the door mechanism instantly changed to squealing and grinding. Qui-Gon Jinn leaped forward, the pack of mazivs running and slashing behind him, their handlers urging them to the kill.

The Force surged through both of them as Obi-Wan seized an arm and shoulder and pulled his the much larger man through. The opening was just wide enough, the length of Obi-Wan's lightsaber.

Propelled forward, they both rolled to their feet and Obi-Wan got a fleeting glance of his lightsaber bending under the pressure before Qui-Gon seized him. They ran along the wall of the castle, propelled now by an urgent warning in the Force.

_Run._

Halfway to their air speeder, they saw the flash from the implosion of the lightsaber's power core that even the saber's well-engineered core containment couldn't defeat as it was being crushed. Hopefully some of the discharge deflected back toward their pursuers.

Blaster bolts from above exploded the paving on one side, bits of pulverized stone flying out from the hits. Qui-Gon's lightsaber deflected the danger from both of them. Obi-Wan leaped into the driver's seat of the speeder. He didn't look up, but he knew exactly when his Master was safe in the speeder next to him. Qui-Gon continued to deflect the blaster bolts as the speeder hummed and sped away and up.

Obi-Wan swung the speeder around the outer walls, rising higher. He knew what direction to go, without knowing where he was going.

"There!" Qui-Gon shouted. Obi-Wan saw the two lightsaber blades, green and blue, swinging, jabbing, high on a parapet. Mazivs howled their rage and pieces of them fell over the side. Obi-Wan soared upward, slowing down just enough for the two Jedi to jump to safety. Three Mazivs leaped after them. Qui-Gon's saber cut them down in mid-air.

The speeder accelerated away, descending down the castle hill, and then over the grassy plain toward the mountain where their ship was hidden. Somewhere in the back of Obi-Wan's mind, he knew he should have been elated, his connection with the Force, with his fellow Jedi, was total. He supposed that later he would, but only cool purpose and action filled this moment with no room for satisfaction. The wind blew his hair and bangs back away from his face.

"Well, that didn't work," Eclin commented from the back of the speeder. Obi-Wan kept his eyes forward, but he felt the moment of connection to his actions, to the older Jedi with him, passing.

"You are injured," Qui-Gon said. Obi-Wan glanced back. All he saw was Qui-Gon's back and side, as he turned around in his seat toward Eclin, and an expression of concern in Semko's brown eyes as she also leaned toward Eclin.

"Yeah," Eclin inhaled suddenly in pain. "Ow! That's easier to ignore when someone is shooting at you."

Obi-Wan kept driving. The plain whizzed by under them, the mountains getting larger, huge gray, uneven shapes getting taller as they got closer.

In the back, Eclin gasped again. Qui-Gon gave single word instructions to Semko. Obi-Wan looked down at the locator-holo. Their small, yellow dot rushed toward transparent, miniature cliffs. When the slightly larger green dot of their ship blinked, Obi-Wan touched a yellow control. The answering bleep of their ship's astromech immediately followed.

Obi-Wan veered to the left, away from the gray wall of rock rushing toward them. Mindful of the three in back, Obi-Wan banked as gently as possible. Patches of bluish green foliage dotted the uninhabited slopes they passed over. The scanner screen continued to blink green; no power sources, only primitive life signs, but they had just escaped an ambush from life forms that would be equally less disturbing to a scanner.

Qui-Gon's arm brushed past Obi-Wan's shoulder as he turned back in his seat. Obi-Wan piloted the speeder dove into a canyon. His Master glanced at the scanner display on the board between them, but said nothing.

In the back, Semko said that she had seen much worse injuries.

"I wish I had," Eclin replied, her voice strained, serious. "But I really haven't. Is that good or bad?"

"I couldn't say," Semko quietly admitted.

"Well, I think it's bad. It's bad every way. It's bad getting slashed by those things. It's bad killing them. And bleeding, that's bad," Eclin went on.

Qui-Gon stared ahead at the twisting canyons that Obi-Wan navigated while Eclin compared the mazivs to swarming, eight-legged boolots, especially how they smelled; the injured Jedi's voice gained strength and normalcy as her narrative rolled on, occasionally spurred on by Semko's sympathies.

Obi-Wan skimmed over a small lake, surrounded by steep rock walls, the area's tough plant life clinging to near vertical surfaces. Reaching the far bank, Obi-Wan made one more sharp turn and then swiftly up the open, rear ramp of their ship. Semko literally leaped over them, her slender, lithe body hitting the deck and running to the forward pilot seats.

Qui-Gon leapt up right after her. The astromech whistled shrilly.

The ship's engines, already warmed up, whooshed as Semko hit the antigravs and the rear ramp began to close. Obi-Wan threw himself back to the seat next to Eclin.

Qui-Gon's lightsaber hissed and slashed. Mazivs screeched and flailed. Body parts fell all around the Jedi Master as swept his green blade through another one. Unarmed, Obi-Wan crouched next to Eclin, his legs up to kick out at another attacker. Eclin stared up the length of her own green lightsaber blade at the dead maziv, one of it's long, rear legs still hooked on a strut on the ship's hull above them. Gritting her teeth, her face contorted with revulsion, Elcin pushed upward, just enough to sever the limb.

"Oooaaaahhh..." Eclin moaned, her voice loud with disgust. The sinewy body, it's plumed head still attached to charred tendons, slid off her knees and thumped down onto the floor like a sack of bones. Pushing the tough, clawed forelimbs off of himself, Obi-Wan climbed out and carefully helped Eclin up. The ship was rising; the slight, subtle changes in acceleration made the injured Jedi's steps even more wobbly. Obi-Wan helped her limp to a sleep couch set in the wall, and then retrieved the medical kit.

At the forward pilot seats, Qui-Gon told Semko to go into orbit, but not to jump to hyperspace until he told her to. He came aft and searched with his eyes, turning around, his whole body facing any potential hiding places. Obi-Wan did not sense any more danger. He could feel that Qui-Gon did not sense anything either, but the older man still slid opened all the wall and floor compartments to look. Then he began picking up maziv remains, gathering them under the disposal lock.

Qui-Gon was angry. It was an unspeaking rage that demanded silence from anyone nearby as well. Eclin, grimacing, said nothing though her eyes kept followed her elder's motions. Obi-Wan kept his back to Qui-Gon and checked the bandaged gashes on her side and upper thigh.

Obi-wan heard his Master climbing into the speeder in back. He heaved the maziv remains out and then dragged them forward. Space and stars and a yellow sun showed through the forward view port. They were in orbit.

Qui-Gon hit the switch and the disposal door slid open. The space wasn't large enough for the mazivs' long legs, so Qui-Gon had to cut them up with his lightsaber. The air recyclers could barely keep up with the smell of burned meat as the Qui-Gon repeatedly filled the disposal with body parts and then ejected them to burn up in the upper atmosphere of the planet below.

Obi-Wan didn't watch, but he and Eclin sometimes stole glances toward the forward pilot seats.

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ End of Part 1 /o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\


	2. Chapter 2

**The Heart of the Jedi**

by ardavenport

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ - - - Part 2

Qui-Gon carefully cleaned his hands at the fresher in the rear of the ship. The residue of blood and gore came off easily and then the residual cleaner solution dried to nothing on his skin. Both Eclin and Obi-Wan watched him without looking at him while his initial fury waned. He focused on the mundane task of washing and let the rest of it go. He checked on Eclin, but Obi-Wan was trained well as a field medic, as all Jedi apprentices were. He had already replaced or reinforced the quick bandages that they had applied in the speeder, attached a fluid replenishment pack to her arm to make up for the lost blood and given Eclin antibiotics. The side wound was serious and she was most in danger from infection.

"Have you set the coordinates for Coruscant?" Qui-Gon called out.

"Yes, Master Qui-Gon," Semko replied from the pilot's controls.

"Then it is time to leave." He finished with his hands. He picked up the debris left over from Obi-Wan's ministrations to Eclin's wounds and went to the disposal. Obi-Wan and Eclin were still not looking at him and he was still not looking at them. His anger was not directed at them, but he could do nothing about it making them nervous. That did not concern him.

The ship made the jump to light speed smoothly. They would be back on Coruscant in less than half a day.

Amid the tense silence in the cabin, he finished at the disposal and went back to the sleep couch. He reached to an upper compartment that was too high for his fourteen year-old apprentice to reach. The panel slid aside and he took out a blanket and handed it to Obi-Wan. Eclin looked up, her mouth open. Qui-Gon coolly looked down at her. She closed it.

Qui-Gon went forward.

He stood behind the left pilot's seat. The glowing, random shapes and darknesses of hyperspace passed by like malformed ghosts. Qui-Gon sensed dread immediately before him. Disappointed, Qui-Gon remained silent, while he looked at the nothingness beyond the ship. The dread ebbed, but it did not entirely go away.

"You were not aware of the danger when we entered the ship," he finally stated.

"No, Master Qui-Gon." Semko's voice was quiet.

"You rushed forward directly under where four mazivs had concealed themselves."

"The Force must have been with me, Master Qui-Gon."

Qui-Gon's expression soured. "No, it was not, Knight Semko," he said, sternly. He waited, until she turned her seat around. She faced hm.

"I know." Then she lowered her small brown eyes. "I was careless." Qui-Gon looked down at her short, thick blond hair. Semko was an agile, slender humanoid with fine, short hair covering her in shades of cream, with light brown stripes marking her face and hands.

"You were not aware of your surroundings. It is fortunate that, even injured, Eclin was aware enough to defend herself, and my Padawan, who is unarmed because he sacrificed his lightsaber to save me.." Semko started, but she did not look up. Qui-Gon folded his arms before him. "You are inexperienced, but you have been on many missions. This is Eclin's first, as a Jedi Knight." Qui-Gon waited, letting the meaning of his words sink in and letting his own rekindled fury fall and diminish. He had felt it, creeping into the tone of his rebuke. Contempt and anger were dark and forbidden, and could only aggravate Semko's shortcomings. Qui-Gon banished any thoughts of acting on his anger over their catastrophically failed mission followed immediately by Semko's near-fatal mistake.

He waited, aware of the mass of discordant surface thoughts in her.

"Are you afraid of what I will do next, Semko?"

She looked up, surprised by the question, the facial stripes, radiating out from her eyes accented her expression.

"Yes," she said, but nothing more. Qui-Gon's anger released, dissipated, upon hearing her simple, honest answer. He did not ask her anything else, because he sensed that she didn't know anything else, but she accepted her actions as they were, with no dissembling.

"I will recommend to the Council that you receive further training. There is no point in dwelling on your mistake, Semko. Your focus should only be on not repeating it." he laid his hand on her shoulder. She did not start this time; she only nodded and then looked up at him, her brown eyes earnest.

"Thank-you, Master Qui-Gon." He nodded back to her, satisfied that she would learn well from this near-costly error. He lowered his hand and went around her to sit in the right pilot's seat. There was no more to say.

After a moment, he heard her quiet footsteps going aft and then her voice asking Eclin how she felt. Eclin told her in great detail, and then she asked in a near whisper what Qui-Gon had said to her. Semko declined to discuss it, but that didn't stop Eclin from finding a new topic to expound on, her impeding stay at the Temple med-center and her former Master's reaction to her injury.

It was a small ship and really impossible not to hear some of Eclin's chatter. Qui-Gon supposed that while she talked, he could be certain that her injuries were not worsening.

Qui-Gon settled back in the padded seat and closed his eyes. Eclin and Semko and Obi-Wans' voices faded to background sounds as he cleared his mind.

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\

As soon as their ship emerged from hyperspace and joined the orbital traffic around Coruscant they received a com from the Jedi Temple. They were told to report to the Jedi Council immediately upon disembarking. Qui-Gon confirmed the message and requested a medical capsule at the landing platform before closing the com.

Semko piloted the ship down into the atmosphere. The approach path to the Temple was reserved, so there was no traffic. Upon landing, they first gave Eclin Moli to the medical droids and the Jedi that waited for them. Qui-Gon smiled at her, Obi-Wan promised to visit later and Semko kissed her lightly on the forehead. She unhappily looked after them, clutching the battered, dark brown robe that Obi-Wan had retrieved from the back of the speeder for her.

The three of them did not speak as they passed through the hangar level, nor did they say anything as Qui-Gon strode through the great halls inside the Temple, Obi-Wan and Semko following. They took a lift that whisked them up to the tower above the Temple where the Council met.

The door was open to them. They were expected.

Qui-Gon took his place in the center of the patterned floor of the circular room, Obi-Wan and Semko respectfully behind him. They all bowed together.

There were only four Council members present. Master Yoda and Master Yaddle, two ancient Jedi of the same diminutive, green species, Depa Billaba, a solemn, dark-haired, light-skinned woman in a plain brown robe and long tunic, and Maga-Tel Dal, a frowning, square-jawed, older male with silvery gray hair and large, seven-fingered hands.

Immediately, Dal asked where Eclin Moli was and Qui-Gon informed them of her injuries. All four Council members exchanged looks but offered nothing in return.

Qui-Gon reported their mission. The planet, Zunus, had harbored illegal settlements for thousands of years, so long that one wondered why they had never petitioned for official status. But a strong streak of independence among the inhabitants ensured its outlaw status. For the past few generations, a schism had grown between the factions that traded with the Potep Union (the systems that nominally claimed Zunus, but hadn't enforced its claim in centuries) and the stubbornly planet-bound factions that wanted nothing to do with 'dirty machine-users', or the rest of the galaxy. The planet-bound faction had been gaining territory and influence for some time and had systematically forced the traders into smaller and smaller reserves. The castle was their last stronghold. A truce had held for several years, but new leaders among the planet-bound factions began attacking. The Zunusian traders petitioned the Republic, through the Potep Union's Senator for negotiators to establish a new truce. The planet-bound factions valued strength and fighting prowess, so the Jedi were sent.

They received questionable landing instructions upon their arrival. Instead of using the stronghold's landing field, they were told to set down on the open plain below the castle. Qui-Gon, the senior Jedi and in charge of the group, had selected a secluded area and they approached by speeder to investigate. The castle, the landing field and the town around them appeared wrecked and abandoned when they had arrived.

A lone individual, waving a red banner, flagged them down to the castle grounds. She had been a large woman, her blue body armor hand made and spun. She informed them that they were welcome to take away the last of the trader faction.

The invitation was obviously a trap, but Qui-Gon did not feel that he could leave without confirming the status of any survivors. They warily entered the castle. There, in a large, high-ceilinged meeting hall, the leaders of the planet-bound factions presented Qui-Gon with the heads of the remaining trader faction. Stacks of them.

The leader of the planet-bound faction's ruling tribunal assured Qui-Gon that the Jedi would be allowed to leave. Their witness was required to inform the Potep Union that their collaborators had been eliminated. Qui-Gon had believed her. She, and the other members of the tribunal had been sincere. They had been, until arrows simultaneously felled some of them. Apparently not all the leaders of the planet-bound factions had agreed to let the Jedi leave, or on who should actually be in charge.

The room had instantly turned into a melee, where only some of the combatants and fighting animals were trying to kill and dismember the Jedi, while more of them were fighting amongst themselves. The Jedi team had separated. Qui-Gon had defended their retreat, while Obi-Wan ran out to get their speeder.

At this point, Qui-Gon described how Obi-Wan used his lightsaber to keep the door open for him. Qui-Gon glanced back to see an embarrassed expression on Obi-Wan's face. He stood with his arms crossed before him, tucked into the opposite sleeves of his robe, a proper stance for meeting the Jedi Council, but it also conveniently hid his lack of a lightsaber.

Qui-Gon described the rest of their escape, and Semko's error when they returned to the ship. Qui-Gon stated his opinion that Semko should be given training to sharpen her awareness of her surroundings.

"Hmmmm, agree, you do, Knight Semko?" Master Yoda asked in his aged, raspy voice.

"I do, Master Yoda. I should not have been so careless," Semko responded from Qui-Gon's left.

"Hmmmm," Yoda seemed to ponder this, but his green eyes settled on Qui-Gon and instantly he knew that the aged Master was considering him for the task. While Qui-Gon would have accepted, if asked, he did not want the task. He would be assisting Obi-Wan in building his new lightsaber and he did not want his attention divided.

"Master Guiyusinth, a keen observer is, and available, I believe," Yaddle said, drawing the attention of the other Council members. "Since Knighted her Padawan, Eclin Moli, is."

"Hmmm, agreed," Yoda affirmed, though Qui-Gon thought that he saw disappointment in the small Master's eyes. "Busy Master Qui-Gon will be. Assisting his Padawan, to build a new lightsaber, he will be," Yoda finished, practically reading Qui-Gon's thoughts. A smug smile formed on Yoda's wrinkled face. Qui-Gon kept his expression blank.

Yoda had urged Qui-Gon to take Obi-Wan as his Padawan, a partnership that Qui-Gon stubbornly declined, but the Force itself seemed to bring them together anyway. Or perhaps it had just been one small green Jedi Council member.

Qui-Gon strongly suspected that Yoda had arranged to have them on the same transport to Bandomeer. The personalities of Master and student had clashed badly at times and Obi-Wan had even left the Jedi Order to join a children's war on Melida/Daan, but circumstances put them back together again, and Qui-Gon could not deny that the bond between himself and Obi-Wan was real.

Qui-Gon Jinn thought that Master Yoda enjoyed being right a bit too much sometimes.

"Acted well, young Obi-Wan did." Yoda nodded his approval.

"He did," Qui-Gon acknowledged, letting the aged Master have his gloat.

The Council agreed to Semko's training and Depa Billaba returned to their mission.

"Your mission was lost before you left. When you were in hyperspace, returning to Coruscant, we received a warning from the Zunusians who had escaped to the Potep Union not to send anyone, that their world was gone and that they were banished and would not petition for return."

Qui-Gon nodded. There was little more to say about the failed mission and the group was soon excused. They all bowed and left.

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ End of Part 2 /o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\


	3. Chapter 3

**The Heart of the Jedi**

by ardavenport

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ - - - Part 3

Obi-Wan Kenobi smoothed down the new tabards over his new tunic. His old clothes had not been badly damaged on Zunus, but they were getting small on him and he got new ones from the supply droids while Qui-Gon replaced his robe which had been torn by the ravenous mazivs that chased him.

While he changed, Qui-Gon went to a grooming room. Obi-Wan found him there, in a chair on the far end of the room. A gray droid trimmed the ends of Qui-Gon's long hair hanging down his back. It whirred softly as one spindly arm cut while another vacuumed away the bits of hair.

He turned as Obi-Wan approached. Obi-Wan saw Qui-Gon raise his eyebrows at him, but otherwise said nothing. Obi-Wan blushed, wondering if choosing clothes that were styled like Qui-Gon's made him look too obsequious, too eager to please his Master. But when the droid had asked him what he wanted, all he could think of was that he did not want to continue wearing the same clothes that he had as an Initiate.

Obi-Wan slid into the chair next to Qui-Gon and a second droid took its position behind him. He stared forward at a mirror and then at the mirror before his Master's chair, but Qui-Gon didn't seem to notice. He was too busy considering his toenails, which the droid had apparently trimmed and cleaned. He pulled one leg up to put a sock on.

Obi-Wan sighed, acknowledging that Qui-Gon may not be a very traditional Jedi Master.

There was no requirement in the Jedi Order that Masters give their Padawans a braid. That would have been impossible. There were many species that didn't have hair at all. But Masters usually gave their Padawans something, some visible, tangible mark or badge of apprenticeship.

Obi-Wan had been avoiding having his hair cut since he began his probation for leaving the Jedi Order. It was now long enough to cover his neck, for the bangs to sometimes fall over his eyes and otherwise be a nuisance. He preferred it short, but it was now just barely long enough to begin a braid.

Obi-Wan had silently hoped, but Qui-Gon had said nothing about a braid during the preparation for their last mission, their first serious one since his probation had ended. And Obi-Wan had not wanted to appear to be more concerned with his hair than the gravity of their mission.

Obi-Wan asked the droid to cut his hair short. The droid nodded its long, thin head; it's eye sensors blinked on and off. It replied that it would do so. . . . within his Master's specifications. Obi-Wan stared back at the machine. Next to him, Qui-Gon had a somewhat satisfied expression on his face.

Obi-Wan was surprised. He had always heard that a Master would cut a Padawan's hair and tie the braid. Qui-Gon nodded to the droid, which approached and began combing his bangs down in front of his face.

"You have a question, Obi-Wan?" Qui-Gon asked, obviously aware of his apprehension.

Obi-Wan didn't know what to say. It seemed so disrespectful for him to be disappointed.

"I . . . . though you would do it," he finally admitted, hoping Qui-Gon would not be offended.

"Aaaaah." He didn't sound unhappy with him, and he still looked pleased as Obi-Wan peeked under the curtain of light brown hair that SS9 had combed down. "A Master ties a Padawan's braid, the first time, but unless you wish to look like at shaggy nerf, I would recommend having SS9 cut the rest of it." Obi-Wan grinned back.

SS9 swiftly snipped and trimmed and sucked up all the excess long hair, and Obi-Wan was glad to be rid of it. Qui-Gon paid almost no attention to the hair-cutting while he put his boots on and then another droid cleaned and trimmed the nails on his hands.

Finally, only one long tail of hair remained behind Obi-Wan's right ear. It was just barely long enough to start a Padawan's braid. SS9 stood back. Qui-Gon finished with the other droid and got up out of his chair.

Obi-Wan forced himself not to tense up as Qui-Gon positioned himself behind him. In the mirror his Master tilted his head to the side, his fingers brushing the long ends of the light brown hair. Then Obi-Wan started as Qui-Gon firmly grasped a lock of hair at the back his head.

Obviously amused by the surprise, Qui-Gon tied the tail lock. Obi-Wan grimaced. He has been so focused on the braid that he had completely forgotten about the tail lock, and he hadn't noticed that the droid had left one. Just as the braid was optional, depending on the Master's wishes and the Padawan's ability to grow hair, so was the tail lock.

Obi-Wan watched in the mirror as Qui-Gon finished and turned his attention to the braid. His hands gathered up the strands of hair. Qui-Gon's expression had become serious as both his large hands combed the hair out and tied it with a white band. He split the hair and then began to braid it. He only paused to produce another band, a green one, to tie it off.

"For skill and loyalty, my Padawan," he said very softly.

When he finished, Qui-Gon bowed his head, touching Obi-Wan's, eyes closed. Obi-Wan stared forward at the image in the mirror and blinked, unable to speak. He could feel the warm rain of the Force flowing down through him. A year ago, he had despaired of this ever happening. Less than a year ago, he had recklessly cast the chance of it aside, wounding Qui-Gon with his betrayal.

Qui-Gon's hand squeezed his shoulder and he straightened again. Wordlessly, he got up and followed his Master out of the room.

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\

Master Qui-Gon Jinn led his apprentice through the great halls of the Jedi Temple. Simulated sunlight streamed down from the 'windows' above. He hadn't said where they were going, but he was quite sure the Obi-Wan had figured out that they were heading for the workrooms where Obi-Wan would begin his new lightsaber.

Glancing down at his young apprentice, he reflected that he was out of practice in tying a Padawan's braid.

Obi-Wan's hair was much thicker than he had expected and it had a life of its own. The new braid stuck straight out from his head, gravity only partially bowing it downward. He had realized it was going badly only after it was tied, and then it had been too late to fix without clumsily undoing it and re-braiding. That would have diminished the moment much more than having the braid look terrible at the end. Obi-Wan did not seem to have noticed that, yet.

Obi-Wan had been affected by that moment of ceremonial closeness as much as he. He sensed it strongly from him, through their bond.

They reached the end of the enormous hall and passed an entryway into a wide corridor.

_Ilum_, Qui-gon thought. He would take Obi-Wan to Ilum.

They passed through an open archway and a wall sign with glowing lettering, 'Lightsaber Crafting.' Doors lined one side of a very plain, stone hallway. The largest door, black with a huge sliver Jedi emblem on it, slid open for them when Qui-Gon touched the panel on the wall next to it.

The dimly lit room they entered was large, but crowded with rows of shelves, tables and chairs, all unused except for the lights over the few occupied work areas among them. Qui-Gon walked down a central aisle to a long, wide window on the far wall. A service droid in the window greeted them politely.

"My Padawan needs to replace his lightsaber," Qui-Gon told it. They had already recorded the events of the mission and the loss of the saber at the Archives immediately after reporting to the Council. The droid noted the Archives record, assigned a work area to Obi-Wan and politely reminded them that they could return to the window for any supplies or tools they needed.

"You are free to choose any reasonable design that you feel is right, but we will need to review it together, before testing any assembly. The design will change as the assembly proceeds," he warned. "Lightsabers rarely end up as they were originally planned." He smiled but Obi-Wan only nodded solemnly in agreement.

Taking a seat, Obi-Wan activated the illuminating light above as soon as they arrived at the work area. The other work areas in the row were dark and empty.

Obi-Wan activated the computer, tapping out his task on the input panel. Qui-Gon watched two screens light up. One for a new design, the second displayed the saved record of the lightsaber that had been lost, the first lightsaber that Obi-Wan Kenobi had built for himself. He just had not done it with Qui-Gon.

Usually, Masters guided their Padawans in designing and building their first lightsaber. Then they took them to Illum to choose the focusing crystals in the caves of the hidden Temple there. But Initiates who had reached the age of twelve, who had not been selected by a Master, were instructed by the Creche Masters in the construction of a lightsaber and taken to the interior of the Temple to finish their work.

Each Initiate entered a circular room with a doomed ceiling, the Crystal Chamber. In it were the usable crystals from the lightsabers of Jedi who had passed on to the Force. There were thousands of them, sparkling blue and green, the accumulation of an Order many thousands of years old. There, the Force guided the Initiates, each one alone, to choose and then complete their lightsaber.

As solemn as it was, the Crystal Chamber was still somewhat less than the intense vision quest of Illum, where a Padawan, or Jedi Knight, found their crystal among the natural deposits there. . . .and often more than that.

Qui-Gon watched Obi-Wan initialize the design for the new saber, his advice for where to begin unspoken. The sharing of the first lightsaber was. . . .

. . . .already lost for him and Obi-Wan.

Qui-Gon recalled his previous two Padawans attentively listening to his instructions about the design. Xanatos, his apprentice before Obi-Wan, had been especially eager. Qui-Gon forced himself not to shrink from the memory. Though Xanatos had fallen to evil and was dead now by his own actions, after trying to kill both him and Obi-Wan, the building that first lightsaber was still a good memory. Qui-Gon had ceased to allow Xanatos to hurt him; he would not banish any reminders of the promising young Jedi that he had once been.

The screen images had not changed, the ready signal on the glowing initialization blinked yellow. Qui-Gon turned his head.

His blue-gray eyes all questions, Obi-Wan sat looking up at him, waiting for him to speak.

A gentle smile on his lips, Qui-Gon turned back to the new design.

"Do you wish to rebuild the original one, as it was?" he asked.

Obi-Wan stopped to think a moment. "I don't know. I. . . . was wondering what you thought of it."

"Hmmm." Qui-Gon looked over the design; it was plain and functional, reliable and sturdy. The creche Masters did not seem to encourage creativity in lightsaber design. Qui-Gon supposed that this was sensible instruction for Initiates who may not be chosen to be Jedi, or if they were, might have Masters who had their own opinions about their Padawans' lightsabers.

Qui-Gon had absolutely no opinion, good or bad, about the design on the screen before him, except that he would never build one like it. And he hoped Obi-Wan would create one with more. . . . personality.

"It is. . . . practical," he stated with a shrug. "But the choice of lightsaber must be determined by you." He nodded toward Obi-Wan. "A lightsaber is not just a tool of a Jedi's power. You feel the Force through the blade; it is part of you. And the Force and the lightsaber choose the Jedi as much as the Jedi chooses them." Qui-Gon laid his fingers on the bottom of the display.

"Do you feel as if this lightsaber chose you?"

Obi-Wan's eyes looked toward the glowing screen, yellow lines on black diagramed the interior next to the display of the saber's exterior.

"No," he finally answered. He looked embarrassed. Qui-Gon gave him a reassuring smile and laid his hand on his shoulder.

"Just because you do not feel it now does not mean that you did not before; I saw that you did. A Jedi changes, but lightsabers tend to be static. As you learn and grow, Obi-Wan, the lightsaber that chose you may lose its voice over time. You must expect this." Qui-Gon drew a finger down the length of the image. "This one was destroyed, so the need for replacement is easy to see. But will you recognize that need if the time comes to simply lay it aside and built a new one?"

Eyes wide, Obi-Wan clearly had not considered this.

"How will I know?"

"You will learn to feel it," Qui-Gon replied solemnly. He reached for the display controls.

Obi-Wan's saber disappeared and a new image replaced it. A line of lightsabers appeared; as soon as one finished forming the lines of a new one began next to it. Then another row of them started. Obi-Wan leaned forward to look. There were finally nine. The last one was identical to the lightsaber clipped to Qui-Gon's belt.

"A few of them were damaged beyond repair. One was lost," Qui-Gon admitted. "And probably destroyed," he amended. "But the others became. . . . unsuitable. Or I did. And I built new ones. You will as well, Obi-Wan."

Every one of them, Qui-Gon knew, had been assembled with his own hands, guided by the Force with new crystals, on Illum.

Qui-Gon got up from his seat. "We will review what lightsaber might chose you, my Padawan, tomorrow morning when we train. In the meantime, I have some things to attend to. I presume you can review whatever technical choices you might prefer on your own?"

"Yes, Master."

Qui-Gon nodded his head. "Then I will see you at first meal."

He turned around and left, walking down the row of darkened workstations to the end of the row and then to the door.

_I will take Obi-Wan to Illum._

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\

As soon as he was certain that Qui-Gon had left the room, Obi-Wan put his hand to the side of his head.

It didn't hurt, but his new Padawan's braid pulled in odd ways, especially if he moved his head quickly. It felt more like a short stump of hair than a braid. Looking about the workstation, he found a shiny shielding plate and held it up to his face.

Obi-Wan started back when he saw the brown stalk sticking out from behind his right ear. A bristle of hairs stuck out from the green band at the end. He shook his head. It wiggled.

Still holding up the plate, he tried to loosen it at the base. That helped and when he was finished it was pointed more downward than outward, but he winced when he accidentally yanked a few hairs out. Sighing, Obi-Wan accepted that he would simply have to wait for it to grow longer on its own before it stopped looking like a weird appendage. If he uttered one word of impatience about it, he knew that Qui-Gon and any other Jedi Master in the Temple within hearing range would admonish him for his impatience.

Putting the plate aside, Obi-Wan looked down again at Qui-Gon's lightsabers. He saw immediately at the bottom of the screen that his Master had added a second name to the authorized users for the file, his own, Obi-Wan Kenobi.

He swallowed, recognizing the trust that had again been placed in him. He reverently began to study the array of lightsabers that had chosen Qui-Gon Jinn.

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ End of Part 3 /o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\


	4. Chapter 4

**The Heart of the Jedi**

by ardavenport

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ - - - Part 4

Qui-Gon walked next to Master Zamtoe down a high ceilinged corridor. Deep inside the Jedi Temple, soft pale yellow lights illuminated the ancient walls and patterned floor. A few long worn tapestries in muted colors and curling lines and shapes hung between the recesses of light. No daylight or simulated outside lights ever reached these cave-like passages.

Stopping, Qui-Gon waited for Zamtoe to cross before him to a dull bronze door on their right. Zamtoe tapped the key code into the panel inset in the wall next to it. The large, broad door silently slid aside. Pale aqua light, highlighted by faint splotches of blue and green, spilled on the floor. Zamtoe's blue skin, once grayish and dull in the dim corridor, seemed rejuvenated in the reflected light from the room. He bowed to Qui-Gon.

"You may stay as long as you wish. There are no demands for the Chamber today." Qui-Gon bowed in return and entered.

Qui-Gon Jinn stood in the arched entryway of the Crystal Chamber. The door silently closed behind him as he stepped forward.

White lights, deliberately chosen for their similarity to the lighting in the caves of Illum, shone upward from the flat shelves of the upper tiers along the walls. Piles of blue and green crystals painted that light with their living color. They filled recesses in the wall, covered the steps on either side of the room and a few spilled out on the floor. A single, plain lighting panel, bright like reflecting snow, dominated the opposite wall like a window into nothing.

Mindful of any stray crystals, Qui-Gon slowly walked down the steps to the center of the room. He slid onto the wide meditation platform at its center. He turned his head, looking all around at the circle of his silent audience of inactive crystals, veterans of many, many thousands of lightsabers over thousands of years of Jedi history.

He inhaled deeply. Then again. Qui-Gon Jinn rarely went to the Crystal Chamber. He always expected to feel the Force more strongly when he entered, but he usually did not. The room felt crowded but still distant to him. Its cold light was only an illusion. There was no real chill in the temperate, filtered air. There was nothing rough and dangerous in this room, heavy only with history. But he wondered if his Padawan had been similarly unimpressed. Without the experience of Illum to compare it to, would the Crystal Chamber be as mysterious and wondrous to his young apprentice, then still an Initiate, hoping to be chosen?

Qui-Gon closed his eyes and thought of Obi-Wan, alone, clearing his mind to find that one crystal that called to him, to fill the empty space in the plain, utilitarian lightsaber before him. Hoping to mirror that moment, he sat motionless for a long time, but an impression of Obi-Wan's past personal quest came to him only fleetingly. He found it underneath many, many other Initiates and Jedi seeking to complete their lightsabers from crystals with their own pasts. They swamped his impression of Obi-Wan with their numbers, layers and layers of obscuring people searching through the millennia.

Looking for a focus though the multi-faceted fog, he took his own lightsaber from his belt. Qui-Gon's hands twisted the pommel, disengaging the power core. With no need to look, his fingers slid along the edges of the emitter end until they found a knob that when pressed released the outer casing. The power core and the rest of inner workings slid out from the pommel end into his lap. His fingertips prodded the exposed crystals inside and extracted them from the housing.

His hand closed over them. The hard edges of the crystals pressed into his palm. He remembered seeing them, for the first time, embedded in a dark cave wall with others just like it. There had been something different about their green glint that attracted him. He had pressed his face close to them, staring deeply into each one. He had felt as if he could see out from them through a gleaming haze of deep, intense green. They came away from the wall, into his hand as soon as he touched them.

Though that sojourn into the hidden Temple on Illum had been relatively short, his then Padawan, Xanatos had complained about having to wait outside in the cold. He had only asked about his Master's experience when they had returned to their ship and he had turned up the heating unit. Even then, Xanatos seemed only interested in the lightsaber itself, not in anything else that had happened. The memory came to him now with the clarity of the Force, including his own delight in Xanatos's awe at the new lightsaber. He had hardly noticed at the time that nothing else interested his apprentice, but the memory now seemed scarred by what was missing from it. There had been no real sharing between them when their should have been, at least, none that went very deep.

Qui-Gon opened his eyes. His own crystals floated before him. He didn't remember releasing them.

The Force now flowed strongly through them, as if they were focusing his lightsaber blade. The other crystals in the room seemed to echo this as if they remembered earlier times. All around him, they rose up in the air. He felt the power of the Force from them, flowing through him to his own crystals. Again, he felt as if he were seeing out from them, something that had not happened since that first day, when he had found them.

He looked up through the green light at the glints of green and blue, little fragments of the Temple on Illum. They had all reassembled into their own Temple now, with him at its center. The air, no longer stale with history, was alive with the Force.

Qui-Gon lifted his arms up, exposing as much of his body as he could to it. For a long time, he felt a thirst, deep within him filled to overflowing.

He saw a glint, in the emerald depths before him. A crack? A flaw? Some tiny fissure that would grow? He lifted his hand to touch it.

The glint flashed bright, hot green.

Qui-Gon flung his arms up, protecting his face and fell back away from it.

The room filled with a clattering sound, like a rattling applause. Small stones pelted his whole body.

A few last fragments rattled into silence.

Qui-Gon slowly pulled his arms away from his head. The crystals were gone. He stared up at the domed ceiling above. It was decorated with a twining pattern of blue and green on gray stone. He had never really studied it before, hardly ever looking up in this room.

He pushed himself up. Crystals fell away from him as he rose. They rolled off him, some falling off the platform to bounce on the floor.

They were everywhere.

With no proper receptacles for the mounds of crystals in it, the Crystal Chamber was never very tidy, but now every bit of floor, every free surface was covered with sparkling blue and green.

The heavy pieces of his lightsaber slid down into the center of his lap. Qui-Gon picked them up. There were several crystals in his lap as well and dozens and dozens of them all around him on the padded meditation platform.

None of them were his.

Breathing deeply, Qui-Gon straightened and extended his hand, drawing those two, special crystals back to him.

Nothing happened.

Qui-Gon's eyes snapped open. There was nothing more disconcerting for any Jedi than to reach for the Force and touch nothing in return.

Sometimes it happened. Sometimes the Force spoke with silence.

His heart beating a little faster than it had been, he climbed down off of the meditation platform. Crystals fell away from him with every motion. He slid his feet on the floor, making space for himself to stand. He was a large man, but even his weight wouldn't break any crystals unless they were already cracked, but he did not want to trip on them either.

Head down, he turned around, hoping that his eye would catch a familiar glint. There were subtle differences in shades. A very few blue ones glinted pale, almost white, while a very few others shone purple. Some green ones were tinted a deep, dark color, or a bright, sunny one. But the huge majority of the carpet of crystals around him were the familiar green or blue. They all looked the same, except for their color, which meant that he could safely eliminate the blue ones, leaving only half of the thousands and thousands of crystals remaining that might be his.

Qui-Gon lifted his head, forcing himself to stop looking.

His crystal was gone because it was no longer his.

_I will have to go to Illum._

He sagged. This was not the revelation he had come for.

He had been hoping for guidance, some flash of insight that he could pass on to Obi-Wan to fulfill his quest. Now it seemed that his guidance would be to build his own lightsaber with his Padawan.

Qui-Gon let the thought settle in his mind. It felt right.

He reassembled his lightsaber without the crystals, carefully leaving the power core disengaged. Then he held it up, regretting that its time with him was gone. The grip still felt right in his hand and he would at least salvage parts of it for the new one.

Turning around again, Qui-Gon felt drained. He was suddenly aware that hours had passed since he had entered the room. A glance at the small chrono by the door confirmed this. Revelations had no sense of time.

Sliding his feet through the masses of crystals, he moved toward the door. They bounced and clattered down when he ascended the steps. He swept his hand in the direction of the panel by the door. It clicked and the door slid open for him.

A few crystals, kicked forward by his feet, stopped at the clawed toes of Master Yoda, who was sitting just outside in the corridor, in the center of the doorway.

Qui-Gon stared down at the large green eyes and thought that the blue-green light really made the ancient Jedi Council member look younger. He continued to stare as Yoda stood and aided by his walking stick made his way around him.

With a full view of the whole Crystal Chamber, Master Yoda slowly turned his head to look at it. Then he settled down in place again, using his stick to clear a space for himself. Smiling, he looked up at Qui-Gon. The crystals on the floor were ankle deep for the tiny Jedi Master.

"Much thinking have you done, Master Qui-Gon," he commented, his uneven tones high and clearly amused.

Senior Jedi Master though he was, Qui-Gon Jinn suddenly felt like a six-year old Initiate who had failed to clean his sleeping space. Knowing that Yoda would see behind his pretense, Qui-Gon still folded his arms before him anyway, his expression neutral.

"I have Master Yoda." He inclined his head. "And now I have more things to consider." He turned to leave.

"Go you must, but your friends must stay."

Qui-Gon stopped. _What did that mean?_

He looked down again. Still smiling, Yoda got up and hobbled toward Qui-Gon's feet. With his stick, he tapped the top of one boot that was at his eye level.

Suddenly feeling something there, Qui-Gon bent over. He pried out a flattish blue crystal from the top of his boot. Shocked, he began checking himself, his boots, his belt, his robe. One was inside the folds of the collar of his robe. Taking the robe off, he found three more inside the hood and another one that had slipped into a concealed pocket. He tossed the robe out into the corridor behind him when he was sure it was free of any other hitchhikers, but he knelt to put the crystals down on the floor with the others.

He patted himself one more time and found one last green crystal hiding inside his tunic. Hoping for a moment, he held it up. It felt familiar, but it only mutely glinted back at him, just like all the others.

"Leaving friends behind, you are, Master Qui-Gon." Yoda's tone was low and even, with no high pitches of amusement this time.

Unable to speak, Qui-Gon nodded. It wasn't his anymore. It never really had been his. Jedi had no possessions.

Yoda held out his rough three-fingered hand. Qui-Gon carefully placed it there. Yoda's claws closed over it; he took it and hobbled back into the room. He bend down and reverently laid it with the other crystals where it belonged.

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ End of Part 4 /o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\


	5. Chapter 5

**The Heart of the Jedi**

by ardavenport

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ - - - Part 5

"I suppose Master Qui-Gon hasn't tied a braid in a while," Eclin Moli said while she looked over Obi-Wan's new appendage. He had to agree.

He sat in a chair next to her medical couch in the Temple Med-Center. He had at first been shocked at the idea that she re-braid it for him. Qui-Gon had tied it with his own hands. But Eclin had broken down his resistance with a huge load of Jedi common sense. He was going to have to wash it sometime, not to mention re-braiding it when his hair grew out. She eased his concern by first showing him how to tie and untie the tail lock on the back of his head. Since it would poke him there if he tried to sleep on it, he would have to untie that every night.

After he got a mirror, Eclin first had him look at the braid, so he would know how to re-do it with the bands in the proper places. Then she slid the green band off and showed it to him. It was just a thin elastic circle that when twisted many times around his hair formed the band. Eclin untied the braid, removed the white band and combed his hair out with her fingers. She held the bands up.

"Did he say what they were for?" she asked quietly.

"Skill and loyalty," he replied. She agreed with the choices.

They referred to the colors. Unfortunately there were not enough colors on the pallette, or enough agreement on which shades signified what to cover the multitude of things that Jedi Masters might wish to symbolize on their Padawans' braids. In ancient times, this had caused many petty arguments among Jedi. So, each color was assigned a wide range of choices and it was left to the Master to designate what the colors truly meant.

Eclin had Obi-Wan wrap the bands around his fingers to keep them safe before she showed him how to braid his hair on his own. The key to getting his braid to hang down was to have it loose at the base. She had him tie it a couple of times to make sure he was comfortable doing it. It was difficult. The three short lengths of hair would slip out of his fingers when he braided them, forcing him to start over. When it was done, his ear mostly concealed the braid in the mirror unless he turned his head to see it.

"It'll get longer. Faster than you think," Eclin assured him. She put the mirror down on the stand next to her medical couch. Her fingers brushed by her black and silver lightsaber, lying at the back of the stand. "Have you started building your new lightsaber?"

Obi-Wan nodded solemnly. "Qui-Gon took me to the Lightsaber Crafting Rooms right after he did the braid."

"It's not your first one," she said, looking at him curiously.

"No, but. . . . " Obi-Wan looked toward her lightsaber. "I made the last one here at the Temple. I've never been to Illum before," he admitted.

"Oh. Well." Eclin suddenly looked uncomfortable before sighing loudly. "Illum. That can go anywhere from a miserable day freezing your ears off to having your insides wrenched out by the Force and stuffed back in backwards."

Obi-Wan wanted to ask her more, but he didn't really know Eclin well enough to ask her about something so personal.

He had gotten along well with Eclin on their mission. She was easy to talk to and sympathetic to him, the youngest member of the team, without patronizing him. But a mission to Illum led though brutal, winding paths of revelation, or murky mysteries, too intimate or fantastic to share with casual friends, if anyone at all. No Padawan or Knight could be compelled to reveal what such a quest had flung them into, though they were encouraged to share it with close confidants. And fortunately for curious Initiates and fearful Padawans, some Jedi had generously recorded their journeys for the generations that followed long after they were dead.

"Illum is cold," Eclin told him. "It shows no mercy."

"Oh, it has been such a long time since I took you there."

Obi-Wan started and turned to see a stout, older woman, wearing a plain brown veil with a striped tan band over her forehead. She smiled and came into the room. Next to him, Eclin smiled back.

"Don't be in such a hurry to go to Illum, young one." Before he could move, the woman reached out and quickly pinched Obi-Wan's cheek. "Your Master will take you when you're ready. And the Force will decide that." Her hand brushed the end of his braid as she took it away. She then folded her arms before her.

"Your first mission, and you end up here, in the Med-Center." She shook her head and sighed; her veil waved with the motion. She was short with broad shoulders and a prominent chest covered by tan tunics and tabbards that went down past her knees. The lightsaber on her belt was mostly silver and gold with a few gray plastoid accents. Obi-Wan realized that she had to be Eclin's former Master, Guiyusinth. Eclin confirmed this by introducing them.

"Well." Guiyusinth leaned forward to look at Obi-Wan's new braid. "It will get longer, dear." She patted him on the shoulder. Obi-Wan shifted in his seat. She seemed to have sprayed herself with some floral scent that intruded on his nostrils when she leaned too close to him.

Master Guiyusinth clasped her hands together, her attention returning to her former Padawan. "I was concerned, when I heard, of course, but that is what our lives are." She sat down on the edge of the medical couch and patted Eclin's knee. "But I'm very glad to see you well."

"Thank you, Master," Eclin replied, blushing.

"And, if you don't mind playing my student just one more time, I wanted to ask you to help with your friend, Semko. The droid said that you should be healed enough to leave here tomorrow morning. And you, too." She leaned toward Obi-Wan, who remembered that the Jedi Council had assigned her to train Semko in sharpening her skills of observation.

"I surprised you when I came in, and I shouldn't have," she told him, holding up an instructive finger. "I think you could benefit from a little extra training on paying attention. I didn't surprise young Eclin here."

Obi-Wan gulped.

"Um, I would need to ask my Master." He wasn't entirely sure if he really needed Qui-Gon's permission, but he couldn't think of a civil way to get out of it.

"Oh, of course! I was going to ask him as well," Guiyusinth exclaimed in a melodious sing-song, raising Obi-Wan's hopes. This training did not sound like anything Qui-Gon would want to do and that could likely get both of them out of it. "It is always best to do these things in groups, just as a reminder that we can all fall into bad habits. And I really believe that this isn't anything more than that." She nodded sagely to herself. "It will be enlightening for you, child." She patted Obi-Wan's knee and didn't seem to notice his scowl at the word 'child'.

Obi-Wan got up to excuse himself. While her former Master's head was turned away from him Eclin flashed him an 'OK' sign and mouthed 'See you tomorrow' at him. Obi-Wan nodded. He liked Eclin, but he hoped that he wouldn't be seeing her with Guiyusinth as well.

He bowed and left the room.

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ End of Part 5 /o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\


	6. Chapter 6

**The Heart of the Jedi**

by ardavenport

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ - - - Part 6

Nothing in the room moved.

The floor was connected to the walls. . . .

. . . .was connected to the holo-window. . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . was connected to the table. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . was connected to the floor cushions. . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . was connected to the two Jedi . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . who sat silently facing each other, simultaneously oblivious and aware of everything.

They almost always began their mornings this way. Variation only came when they traveled together away from the Temple or when the Council had sent Qui-Gon twice on a mission alone. Obi-Wan would wake and rise early. By the time he was washed and dressed, Qui-Gon would be at the door to his room and they would settle on the floor cushions and begin their meditation together.

When he had first been on probation for leaving the Order and defying Qui-Gon on Melida/Daan, Qui-Gon would speak during these sessions, leading Obi-Wan through the subtleties of the Force, guiding him though the images and feelings that emerged through the mediation. Now, Qui-Gon only spoke when he wanted Obi-Wan's attention on a particular detail of the Force. They usually began and sat together silently. Often Obi-Wan would open his door at the moment when Qui-Gon arrived. He would come in and they would begin without saying anything at all.

Obi-Wan's morning meditation would generally span anything he had learned the day before, playing it in his mind, burrowing into the details that he might have seen, but had not understood.

This morning, his thoughts recalled the escape from the castle on Zunus. He felt the trace memory of that deep connection to the Force that he had shared with Qui-Gon and the others. It hovered in the air around him, an aftertaste of what had been. He stayed relaxed, accepting that he wanted to recreate that connection, but knowing that to grasp for it would drive it away. Instead, he concentrated on how he drew the Force to him now; it was a murky shadow compared to the full intensity of action and motion on Zunus, but he had felt what it would be, with time.

Sitting on a floor cushion across the table from him, Qui-Gon's breathing changed, a signal that they were nearly done. As always, Qui-Gon was Obi-Wan's standard, his goal, a nearby pool of calm strength in the Force. Obi-Wan could feel the slow changes in himself since his return to the Jedi, his own strength growing with his ability to emulate his Master. They opened their eyes together.

They stood and stretched together. Then Obi-Wan put the blue, floor cushions back under the low table, while Qui-Gon picked up their robes. He handed the much smaller brown robe to Obi-Wan. As they put them on Obi-Wan realized for the first time that Qui-Gon was not wearing his lightsaber. He stared, his robe half on.

Seeing that his apprentice was staring at the empty spot on his belt, Qui-Gon sighed.

"My lightsaber became. . . . unsuitable. It would seem that we will be building our lightsabers together," he explained, his voice resigned. Sure that there had to be much more than this thin explanation, Obi-Wan continued to stare, but Qui-Gon said no more. Obi-Wan hastily pulled his robe on and followed him out the door of his plain beige room.

They walked down the softly lit hallway of entryways and doors. Some of Obi-Wan's neighbors also emerged from their rooms and went with them. They exchanged minor, nondescript morning greetings. They met a couple more Jedi at the intersection at the end of the hall. They all flowed around the huge, potted plant in the middle to go to the stairwell to descend to the level of the meal hall.

A couple of quiet conversations started up as they went down. Obi-Wan saw one of his neighbors look twice toward Qui-Gon's belt, but she said nothing.

The meal hall was not too crowded. They joined the line at the counter; the droids had prepared a variety of choices common to most species. Everyone served themselves. Anything that might be toxic to some species were further back down the line, and a few Jedi of very uncommon species or specific needs were served separately.

Qui-Gon very predictably chose a bowl of boiled grains, nuts and dried muja fruit, a small vegetable juice and water. Obi-Wan had mixed fresh fruit cubes, fesha paste on a large piece of sweet-bread, julaberries and water.

They were halfway through the meal when Qui-Gon announced to Obi-Wan that they would be attending Master Guiyusinth's training with Semko that afternoon. Obi-Wan silently groaned and wondered if Qui-Gon had actually met Eclin's former Master or just responded to a message. Qui-Gon raised his eyebrows at his expression.

"I thought I was attentive on our last mission," he explained.

"You were, Obi-Wan. Exceptionally so. But we can all benefit from another person's knowledge. And I wish to participate in Semko's training." Obi-Wan kept his unhappiness to himself this time. Since she had been Eclin's Master perhaps she was not usually as patronizing and intrusive she had seemed the day before.

Qui-Gon slid a small, flat data screen across their table to him before continuing eating. Obi-Wan looked down at it, then thumbed through the screens of text. Except for a little free time after the third and last meals of the day, Qui-Gon had schedule much of their time together, for the next eight days. After that, the calendar was 'unspecified'.

Obi-Wan pressed his lips together. Was that how long Qui-Gon expected him to need to build his lightsaber? For both of them? And after that. . . .

_Illum._

They would go to the cave Temple at Illum to find the crystals to complete their lightsabers. Much was rumored among Initiates about that sacred place on its frozen world, a place strong enough in the Force to test any Jedi. Sometimes Jedi endured their Trials for knighting there. The simple things sensed in a meditation were small, ephemeral glimpses compared to the frightening insights that might descend through a Jedi on Illum.

_Eight days._

_If Qui-Gon thinks I'm ready._

Obi-Wan looked down at the 'unspecified' on the calendar. It could still be longer, depending on how well he did. In the meantime, he would spend nearly all his time with Qui-Gon. Neither one of them could be sent on missions until their sabers were finished. Even during his probation, they only occasionally spent entire days together when they were at the Temple.

He trained with Qui-Gon every day, meditation in the morning, seminars and physical training in the afternoon, and they discussed his other daily learning after the last meal. Sometimes they went to the Archives or the gardens or the ancient parts of the Temple. But much of the rest of his time was spent in his own studies or training with other Padawans or performing minor duties at the Temple. Sometimes they socialized, but Obi-Wan always declined any invitations while he was on probation.

When they finished eating, Obi-Wan left the dining hall with Qui-Gon amidst the groups of other Jedi coming and going.

Qui-Gon went down a wide corridor to a stairwell and they descended several levels. Obi-Wan recognized the way. They were headed toward the training arenas. When they arrived, Qui-Gon went to one of the smaller rooms.

They entered a gray, eight-sided room with a circular floor pattern and an artificial skylight. Obi-Wan had never been in it before. It was reserved for Jedi Knights. And their Padawans. An amazing array of mounted lightsabers covered seven of the walls. He had never seen such a display, never known that it existed. Initiates trained with several dozen types of lightsabers in the creche before they were assigned a training weapon or the older Initiates built their own. But this collection far exceeded that.

"This is the Room of Sabers," Qui-Gon announced. "These sabers were left behind by Jedi who have passed on to the Force. And we will train with them to test our choices for our own lightsabers."

Qui-Gon went to the center of the room and turned left. Holding his hand out before him, he slowly passed it before him as he walked. He bent down and picked a lightsaber from the bottom row on the wall. He activated it. A bright, blue blade snapped into existence. Stepping away from the wall, he twirled it, swung it about and lunged a few times. Apparently satisfied, he returned to the room's center, facing Obi-Wan.

"We will begin with the simplest form of synchrony," he stated.

Obi-Wan nodded. He took his place before his Master, feet shoulder width apart. He closed his eyes and breathed in slowly, letting the Force flow through him, so that he could feel it in himself, connecting through the floor, the rest of the room and Qui-Gon. He opened his eyes.

Qui-Gon ignited the lightsaber. He brought it up before him, a bright blue vertical line of energy. Then he swung it downward and forward.

Left side. Right side. Whirl around. Down. Qui-Gon swiftly stepped through the stances and moves of the form, the blur of the lightsaber blade coming within a finger's width of Obi-Wan's body.

Obi-Wan kept perfectly still, in synchrony with Qui-Gon. He felt the flow of the Force, from his Master, to himself. He knew exactly where he was and where the blade would go, even during the parts of the form when the attacker struck randomly.

Qui-Gon finished. They bowed to each other.

Qui-Gon turned the lightsaber hilt around and handed it to Obi-Wan, then he stepped back and closed his eyes.

Obi-Wan bowed as he accepted it, but he was suddenly nervous. Qui-Gon had selected this lightsaber. Its body was fatter than Obi-Wan's old one, the nubbly black grip unfamiliar in his hand.

Qui-Gon opened his eyes, ready for Obi-Wan to began.

Obi-Wan hesitated. He stepped back, igniting the lightsaber and began testing it as Qui-Gon had. His Master waited patiently while he swept the blade before him and back. He could feel its weight, the energy of the blade becoming a part of him through the Force. It didn't feel as natural as his old saber had, but the right connection was there, the one that made a lightsaber special to a Jedi's senses. It was said that even a person entirely untrained would feel it instantly as long as they had the potential of a Jedi. Lightsaber technology had evolved over the millennia to be the natural weapon of a Jedi or anyone Force sensitive.

Obi-Wan finished his tests and took his place before Qui-Gon, who had not moved or even changed his expression.

The blue lightsaber blade hummed, its ominous drone rising and falling with each swing. The exercise came easily to him. Obi-Wan had been doing this with Qui-Gon almost every day of his probation. He executed his part of the form nearly as quickly as his Master now. Qui-Gon remained the silent, still half of the exercise, his presence as sure and reliable a part of the form as Obi-Wan's movements.

They took turns through all the forms of synchrony, each one increasing in complexity with the unarmed person now moving with the attacker.

After those, Qui-Gon told Obi-Wan to select his own lightsaber.

He looked about at the daunting array of choices. Qui-Gon smiled next to him.

A little annoyed by the smug expression on the older man's bearded face, Obi-Wan picked the wall opposite from the one Qui-Gon had selected. Looking up and down the mounted lightsabers, he spotted one with a gold emitter shroud, a silver and gold body and a large, yellow activation switch. He picked it up out of its cradle and strode back to Qui-Gon, but he knew after only a few steps that he didn't like the feel of the grip. From Qui-Gon's mild and knowing expression, Obi-Wan was sure that his Master already knew, too.

_How could he know?_

"Are you satisfied with your choice?"

Obi-Wan hefted the gold and silver saber. It felt too heavy.

"No," he admitted.

"Because you selected it only with your eyes, Obi-Wan," Qui-Gon instructed. Belatedly, Obi-Wan remembered what Qui-Gon had said about the lightsaber choosing him. "We will move on to the next forms with these," he pointed at Obi-Wan's lightsaber with the one he had chosen. "After that I will show you how to choose better."

Obi-Wan unhappily looked back at him, but Qui-Gon only shook his head. "There is still something to be learned from this one, even if it is not ideal for you. And there may be times when you will be forced to fight with a weapon that is not your own. You must learn to adapt."

Feeling a little better, he stepped back and activated the new lightsaber. The blade was green and it hummed and thrummed as Obi-Wan adjusted to it, feeling for that right balance with the Force.

They executed several single person forms together. The moves were elementary, but they mirrored each other's swings and lunges, each using the Force to anticipate and move with the other; they worked together.

Qui-Gon seemed satisfied by the exercises. They put the two lightsabers back in their places, then Qui-Gon laid his hand on Obi-Wan's shoulder and led him to the center of the room.

"Now, think about your own lightsaber, how it felt in your hand, how the blade moved when you did, how the Force flowed through you, through it," Qui-Gon instructed. "Close your eyes."

Obi-Wan recalled his old saber. His fingers curled around its imaginary hilt. He supposed that there had been nothing special about it. The hilt had been very plain silver with a textured grip, a polished, cylindrical emitter shroud and black activation switch, but he had known every part of it. When he concentrated properly, without strain, he could feel the Force flowing through himself to the blade, strengthening it.

"Now extend your hand, and choose," Qui-Gon's voice told hm.

Obi-Wan raised his arm. He could feel the room, the lightsabers like a regular pattern of after-images on the insides of his eyelids. His breathing slow, he again imagined his hand around his old saber. Several lightsabers, on either side of him seemed to brighten. He sharpened the impression of his old lightsaber in his hand, hoping to thin down the choices to one, but they multiplied. The brighter lightsabers grew, paling and distorting the regular pattern around him. The more he tried to focus on one the worse it got until the lightsabers around him felt like one glowing, muddy mess.

Frustrated, Obi-Wan began to drop his arm.

Qui-Gon's large hands covered his shoulders and Obi-Wan froze.

"You are focusing too much on finding the best one for you. None of them are that." Qui-Gon's voice was close to his ear, his breath still a little grainy and fruity from breakfast. "Only the lightsaber you build will choose you. We will try many of these. When you select one, it is only for a time, when you learn from it and then choose another."

Obi-Wan steadied himself. Qui-Gon stepped back away from him. Obi-Wan turned, walking toward a wall on his right. It wasn't any better than any other direction, but limiting his focus to one wall seemed to keep the muddle of images from getting worse. His eyes still closed, he passed his hand before him. He could still discern which lightsabers were brighter through the hazy muddle in his mind and he reached up and picked one on his right. He turned around, letting his breath out and opening his eyes.

"Are you satisfied with your choice?" Qui-Gon asked when he returned to the center of the room. Obi-Wan looked down at the saber for the first time. It was mostly black with silver accents on the pommel and emitter ends and a purple activation switch. It felt lighter than the first one.

"I think I would like to try it out," he answered. Qui-Gon seemed pleased, and while his Master made his own choice, Obi-Wan activated the saber's blue blade.

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ End of Part 6 /o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\


	7. Chapter 7

**The Heart of the Jedi**

by ardavenport

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ - - - Part 7

"Now dear, the first thing I want you to put out of your mind completely is that this training is any kind of punishment. No good can come from that kind of negative thinking." Master Guiyusinth wagged her finger at Semko.

"Yes, Master," Semko inclined her blond head respectfully. The matronly Master held her head back and narrowed her eyes at the younger Jedi Knight. Qui-Gon sensed that Semko may have intellectually accepted that she was not being punished, but she did not feel that way.

Next to him, Obi-Wan fidgeted.

"Now," Guiyusinth clapped her hands, even though she already had everyone's complete attention. "Let us all line up. Semko, you go next to me. Eclin, you next to her." Guiyusinth guided them to their places with a hand at their elbows. "Now, Obi-Wan." His Padwan took his position; Qui-Gon frowned at his unhappy expression.

He knew what was bothering Obi-Wan. They had spent a successful morning in the Room of Sabers and Obi-Wan had caught on very quickly to how to feel his way toward his new lightsaber design. Qui-Gon was proud of him for that.

Now he was being petulant, because he wanted to go right away to his workbench and apply what he had learned to his new saber, but Qui-Gon had committed them to helping Master Guiyusinth with Semko's training instead.

This was a disappointment and Qui-Gon was satisfied with making Obi-Wan wait. Eagerness was fine, but lightsabers were not created from impatience.

"And now." Guiyusinth looked about, turned around and looked up. "There you are," she said to Qui-Gon. He said nothing, smiling down at her. Of course, she had known that he was standing right behind her. He knew that. She knew that he knew that. Qui-Gon thought that Master Guiyusinth's act was a bit pretentious, but he accepted it as part of her way.

He did not really know Master Guiyusinth very well. He occasionally met her in the Temple and he had been on a few missions with her many years ago, but his first meeting with her had been when he was the Padawan of Jedi Knight Dooku. Master Guiyusinth had been a clan mate of his former Master. Even then, as a strong, forceful young Jedi Knight, Guiyusinth had been pretentious, but instead of a moderately confused older woman, she had played the pretty, young girl of barely adequate intellect. Dooku had complained about her whole subterfuge, since he knew perfectly well how smart she was. Dooku thought it was degrading and Qui-Gon did not understand it, but it put her in a position of always being underestimated by anyone who did not know her. She obvious preferred meeting people that way.

She was also the first person Qui-Gon had ever seen use a Jedi mind influence seductively. When he had asked Dooku about it later, his Master had sternly told him that it was beneath them. But he did not complain about it to Guiyusinth. She had used it get them out of jail with a team of smitten guards falling all over themselves for her with undisguised longing. Dooku had instructed him that this sort of use of the Force skirted dangerously close to violating the Jedi Code. But as far as Qui-Gon could tell, all covert mind influences did that. So, he had simply refrained from trying out Knight Guiyusinth's technique until after he had been knighted. It had gotten him into huge amounts of trouble, but he would not take back the lessons he had learned from it, even if that were possible.

Now, Master Guiyusinth was a stout, older woman herding him to the end of their line. But Qui-Gon still sensed the disguised intelligence, content to be strategically overlooked.

"Oh, dear. You two really aren't dressed properly for this," she tisked, looking at his and Obi-Wan's belts where they were not wearing their lightsabers. Obi-Wan blushed. Qui-Gon serenely folded his arms before him, his arms tucked into the opposite sleeves of his robe. He accepted her pretense of befuddlement, but he did not have to participate in it. Her blue eyes met his.

"Oh well," she threw her hands up. "I suppose it just can't be helped." She put on the hood of her robe and everyone else followed her example as she went to her end of the line.

"Now," she called out, facing forward toward the great entrance at the base of the Jedi Temple. "Everyone follow me! And keep your place in the line!"

They all marched diagonally across the great hall where they had gathered, toward the light streaming in from the huge windows at the entryway.

Qui-Gon saw Semko and Obi-Wan looking about curiously. But Eclin, Guiyusinth's former Padawan, had presumably participated in training like this before and knew what was going to happen. Qui-Gon suspected what the older woman was doing, but he had never participated in this version of this training before. He was concerned, since what he was thinking of could be a fairly advanced exercise for Obi-Wan, depending on how difficult Guiyusinth wanted to make it. Everyone else in the group was either a Knight or a Master, but Obi-Wan had been a Padawan for hardly more than a year.

_You won't know their limits unless you test them._

Qui-Gon heard his old Master's voice in his thoughts. Dooku had always thought that Qui-Gon had been too lenient with his Padawans. He could have been right. Qui-Gon had hardly spoken to him since Xanatos had fallen, years ago now.

They exited the Temple's grand, main entrance, past the huge columns of the entryway and into the Coruscant midday. Being the tallest of the group and at the end of the line, Qui-Gon could look over everyone's head to where they were going. They descended the steps of the Processional Way, entering the shadows of the buildings around the Jedi Temple. They went down to a mid-level walkway, past two blocks of buildings and then right to a wider pedestrian-way. It was fairly obvious to Qui-Gon that they were headed for the Public Transport Station nearest to the Temple. A few people stared at their odd line of five brown-robed Jedi, but most ignored them and no one stopped to look.

"Now, I think we should take a little tour of this marvelous planet we have," Master Guiyusinth spoke above the mumble of the increasing crowds. "All you have to do is follow the person ahead of you. Don't worry about following anyone ahead of them, but do be mindful of who is behind you. And especially the people around you," she instructed, confirming to Qui-Gon what she was doing, though the last time he had participated in this exercise, it had been with eight Jedi in air taxis.

They joined the crowd at the Transport Station. Their line tightened, everyone keeping close so that they would not be separated. Guiyusinth purchased five day passes and then handed four of them back to Semko, who passed the remaining three on.

Guiyusinth only spoke again when they had passed into the station. They stood together on one of many long platforms from which passengers emerged from and vanished into repulsor-lift cars. From there they could travel to nearly any part of Coruscant as long as they kept renewing their passes. She led them aside, away from a knot of people boarding one transport car.

"Now, just to be clear about this," she instructed. "You must all stay in line." Her sing-songing voice lingered on 'all' as she pointed at them. "Don't worry about all the people ahead of you, except the one you're following. And mind the people in line behind you."

Semko tensed. Guiyusinth used the Force that she had gathered to her to leap into the departing transport car just before the door slid closed.

Semko gathered the Force to her.

"Get the next one!" Eclin hastily told her. Semko stopped in mid-crouch as the last car in the repulsor-lift train passed them.

"Whatever you do, idon't/t chase her. She'll just make it harder. Believe me, I know." Semko unhappily looked from her friend to the rapidly retreating train.

"Can you find her?" she asked.

"I should." Qui-Gon knew that the bond between Master and Padawan could be strong and Eclin Moli had only recently been knighted, but even that could be obscured by the intricacies of the Coruscant public transit system.

"I believe that train was an express," Qui-Gon pointed out the posted schedule. "A local one could delay us considerably."

Semko scrutinized the schedule and the transit map next to it. Then she looked back at Qui-Gon, her small brown eyes narrowed, the darker stripes of her short fur radiating out from them. "Should you be helping me?"

"Guiyusinth didn't say we couldn't talk," Eclin told her. "And you're supposed to 'mind' everyone behind you, remember?"

"Well, you must have already done this with her," Semko replied.

"Not on these trains, I haven't. That's new."

"But you're still sure you can find her?"

"She's not trying to hide from us," Eclin stated. "She has to mind us, too. If she's at the next stop, she should be near the train. Wherever she is, she'll be visible. Some way. She won't make it hard for us until we get further into this." Qui-Gon watched the two of them over Obi-Wan's head while Eclin reminded Semko about her Master's quirks. Around them, the multi-species swarm of commuters and tourists reformed into a new expectant knot for the next train at their stop. But it was local and they moved away while Eclin continued her instruction to Semko. Qui-Gon observed silently.

When the next express car arrived, it was more than half empty. They filed in and took their seats, still in their line. They did not speak during the long trip, though Qui-Gon again sensed Obi-Wan's impatience next to him.

The blond fur on Semko's head stood up with anticipation as they finally approached the next stop. As soon as the door slid open, Guiyusinth stepped in, all smiles.

The exercise proceeded. Long periods of sitting on transit cars were interrupted by energetic strolls through busy transit terminals and commercial concourses. Guiyusinth had a remarkable ability to disappear if Semko followed too close. Most of the time Qui-Gon would spy the hem of her robe ducking under a barrier, or the top of her veil dropping down a couple of levels, but a couple of times she surprised him.

While the training seemed to be a satisfactory exercise for Semko, Qui-Gon grew increasingly dissatisfied with his own Padawan. Obi-Wan had suppressed his fidgeting, but only after catching a glare from him. Eclin was not challenging Obi-Wan at all and he seemed to be gaining little from the excursion. He kept up, but he seemed bored and dispirited, especially whenever they passed a holo-sign with a chrono on it. The time when they were supposed to have been back working on their lightsabers had long since come and gone, and Guiyusinth still led them away from the Temple.

They exited yet another transit car into a commercial area that looked exactly like the one they had just left. Guiyusinth's veil fluttered behind her as she briskly charged out into the crowd. Beings of all sorts crossed the invisible line of the four robed and hooded Jedi who trailed her.

A lifter loaded with huge canisters drove between them and Master Guiyusinth. When it had gone, so was she.

Semko hardly showed even momentary surprise. She followed the lifter, advancing carefully. Eclin and Obi-Wan followed too closely behind her. So, when their attention was focused on where Guiyusinth might have been, they missed her popping up over the lifter and spryly landing on the other side of it. The older woman danced away into the crowd until she was behind Qui-Gon.

Now, Qui-Gon was disappointed in Eclin. She had focused almost exclusively on encouraging Semko and had done little to enlist either his or Obi-Wan's help. Qui-Gon supposed that the older woman might have instructed Eclin to concentrate only on helping Semko. But it appeared to him that it was more likely that Eclin simply hadn't thought of asking them. And he was not inclined to come to her aid. Both of them had participated well in their last mission, but now they seemed to have forgotten how to include the whole group in their task.

He walked up to the two young Knights. Eclin was again trying to sense where Guiyusinth had gotten to for Semko. Obi-Wan disinterestedly looked about while his elders largely ignored him. Qui-Gon supposed that he had some small justification for being bored.

He felt a moment of hope when Obi-Wan started in surprise and leaned to the side, to see around him. But he was too easily distracted by Eclin. The Force flowed strongly in the young woman, but when she ended up looking at Qui-Gon it wavered and diminished with her uncertainty. Semko started to look worried.

Qui-Gon kept his features neutral though he was now doubly disappointed in the two young Knights. Doubling back on a pursuer was a pathetically predictable tactic that might be expected to work on someone with Obi-Wan's lack of experience, but not on these two.

To her credit Eclin finally obeyed her instincts and told Semko to double back. But Guiyusinth fooled them again by remaining hidden in place and they walked right past her. Qui-Gon did not even glance toward the toes of Guiysinth's boots, plainly visible under the glowing advertising placard she stood behind.

They entered a corridor connecting to another concourse and transit station. Qui-Gon slowed his pace when Eclin passed a lone food stall. Semko had reached the end of the corridor and was turning about scanning the new concourse. Obi-Wan hurried to catch up with both of them. Qui-Gon followed him, but he stopped at the food stall.

It was getting late. Guiyusinth's training had far exceeded the time she said it would take. It was inconsiderate of her to not ask him about the extension, but neither he nor Obi-Wan had anything to do that could not be done the next day. And really challenging training did not conform to predictable time constraints.

He scanned the menu for Humanoids. The holo food displays along the counter looked palatable and the smells of the stall were promising. Producing a credit chit from a belt pouch, he asked for a small juice and snack box #A2. He looked over the other menu selections while the attendant swiped his card and a helper picked out his order from the stacks on the warming shelves. There seemed to be plenty of suitable things for everyone else.

In his side vision, Qui-Gon saw Obi-Wan disappear around the corner at the end of the corridor. Eclin and Semko were already out of sight.

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ End of Part 7 /o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\


	8. Chapter 8

**The Heart of the Jedi**

by ardavenport

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ - - - Part 8

"Remember, don't chase her," Eclin was telling Semko as Obi-Wan joined them. "We just need to stay in line. The closer you get, the harder she'll make it." Eclin pointed to herself. "She's at the head of the line, so she's supposed to know where all of us are."

Obi-Wan warily looked about, but it seemed to him that more and more pedestrians around them were wearing long, brown clothes. He knew that he was only supposed to look out for Eclin, but if he happened to see their missing leader he did not see any reason why he couldn't tell Semko. Eclin was certainly doing plenty of that already.

The three of them stood together by a plasti-form plant and an empty bench, an island of decoration is the busy shopping district. Semko froze, looking over Obi-Wan's shoulder.

"Where's Qui-Gon?"

Obi-Wan whirled around. His Master was gone.

"Oooouuuu, not both of them!" Eclin moaned. Semko looked very worried now.

"Go back and get him!" Eclin pointed. Obi-Wan gulped. Could he locate Qui-Gon as well as Eclin, a Knight, could find her former Master? His grasp of the Force and bond with Qui-Gon suddenly seemed very tenuous.

"He's at the end of the line," Eclin went on. "All he's supposed to do is follow you. He can't wander off, but that doesn't mean he can't stop somewhere. Go back the way you came and get him. He'll have to be there."

Obi-Wan nodded, turned and hurried back the way he had come. He had struggled to keep track of Guiyusinth, but he had been very careful to always mind where they were. He turned back into the corridor that led to the concourse they had just left.

Obi-Wan stared, aghast. His Master, who so often on missions would lead them from place to place for many hours without even thinking of food, had now stopped to buy something to eat. At the end of a line of standing tables by a food concession, Qui-Gon nibbled on green chips from a carton before him.

Stalking up to where Qui-Gon had positioned himself, Obi-Wan felt himself passing beyond frustration. The entire afternoon was gone, wasted while Guiyusinth dragged them all over Coruscant. This whole trial seemed to be more of an exercise in Jedi patience than observation. And apparently Qui-Gon did not think his patience was tested enough, so he had contrived this.

"Semko and Eclin are waiting for us," he sullenly replied to Qui-Gon's greeting.

"I thought I would get something for all of us." Smiling, Qui-Gon indicated the stack of other cartons and cups in a flimsy carrying frame next to him on the table. Obi-Wan even saw some things he liked marked on the boxes, but for once he did not feel like eating. He silently took the handles of the carrying frame while Qui-Gon picked up his own carton and cup. They walked back to the others, with Qui-Gon staying behind him, still minding the line.

Obi-Wan wanted more than anything to return to the Jedi Temple and resume his new lightsaber design, but he knew he did not have the energy for it now.

Both of the young Jedi waiting for them looked relieved. Qui-Gon pleasantly offered them the food he had bought. Neither woman looked enthusiastic about it, but they accepted cartons and cups as did Obi-Wan. But after they had all taken one of each, there was still one carton and one cup in the frame. Putting his food down on the bench, Obi-Wan held it up to see what was left.

"Master Guiyusinth," Qui-Gon suddenly called out. The heads of his three companions snapped to attention. "Will you join us?"

The older woman materialized from behind the fronds of the plastic plant where Qui-Gon was looking.

"Oh, thank-you Master Qui-Gon. That was so considerate of you," Guiyusinth cooed. Obi-Wan remained frozen in place as she cheerfully took the last carton and drink. Then he unhappily looked up to his Master.

"Now." Guiysinth walked around them and after wiping off the seat with the sleeve of her robe, sat on the end of the bench. "We shall all have a nice meal, and have a very long chat about how we can improve our powers of observation, hmmmm?"

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ - - -

The dim lighting inside the immense entryway of the Jedi Temple swallowed up the busy night of Coruscant. Obi-Wan Kenobi trudged wearily behind his Master, content to no longer have Qui-Gon following him.

Very late, they crossed the smooth polished floors alone, deeper into the Temple to the lifts. The night was half over and their muted footsteps echoed faintly on the high ceilings above and on the far walls as they passed between rows of huge columns. Too tired to care anymore, Obi-Wan's relief to escape the crowds and trains and pointless chase pushed away any thoughts about the wasted afternoon, evening and night.

Thankfully, Guiyusinth had excused both he and Qui-Gon from participating in any more of her training exercises. But things would not go so well for Eclin and Semko. They had parted company with the two young Knights staying with the older woman to review a few points they were supposed to have learned.

Obi-Wan had honestly tried to mind what Guiysinth had told them, but he still lost track of her amidst the train cars and thoroughfares. He always kept track of where they were (and how far they were from the Temple) and he never lost sight of Eclin (who looked back to check on where he was almost as often as she was trying to sense where her former Master was heading), but as the game progressed he had less and less to contribute other than keeping his place in line. Qui-Gon had hardly said anything to him, though he always seemed to know where their quarry was.

They finally entered a less-grand interior corridor, the lights set to quarter brightness. They arrived at a line of lift doors. Qui-Gon touched the call panel. The lift arrived almost immediately and they entered. Qui-Gon touched the selection panel for both their levels in the living area; the symbols lit up yellow on black.

"It is late. I believe we would both benefit most from rest. We shall forgo meeting at our usual time. Please come to my room when are up and ready tomorrow morning." The doors opened and Qui-Gon hardly waited for Obi-Wan's quiet "Yes, Master." before stepping out.

"Good night, Obi-Wan."

"Good night," Obi-Wan said as the doors closed, leaving him alone in the lift.

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ - - -

Qui-Gon took his robe off as soon as he entered his own room. He hung it up on its hook in the storage alcove and began unfastening his belt, his hand automatically grasping his lightsaber first.

His fingers closed on empty air.

Sighing, Qui-Gon continued undressing.

It had been a most unsatisfactory training exercise. Semko and Eclin performed badly, but that was Guiyusinth's responsibility. He had no doubt that both young Jedi would become more observant with Guiyusinth's guidance. Obi-Wan had performed reasonably well, given his level of inexperience. But Qui-Gon knew that Obi-Wan could have done much better.

Finished stripping off all his clothes, Qui-Gon put them into the clothes fresher. Then he went to the refresher to wash himself. While he attended to the hygiene of body, hair and skin he wondered most about his own actions.

Why had he not pressed Obi-Wan to do better?

It was true that he and Obi-Wan had really only been asked to participate because they were a convenient complication for Guiysuinth's training for Semko, but learning was an opportunity that a Jedi did let slip by. Yet he had.

Had Obi-Wan's moodiness irked him so much that he withheld his counsel under the guise of letting Obi-Wan learn for himself? If that were so, then he himself would have performed worst of all during Guiysuinth's exercise.

Was he worried about pushing Obi-Wan too hard? But his Padawan's actions during their last mission had been exemplary; Obi-Wan was capable of much. His training should reflect that.

Qui-Gon left the refresher and took his nightshirt down from its upper shelf in the storage alcove. His clothes were done and he took them out to put on their shelf for the next day.

Not since training his first apprentice had Qui-Gon felt so conflicted about how to move forward. Then the circumstances had been completely different, but there were similarities. Ruak had been a talented and eager young woman, also inclined toward the Living Force and Qui-Gon had thought she made excellent progress in her early training. However, when he had chanced to discuss his pupil with his former Master, Dooku had declared that he was being soft on the girl to the point of ruining her future. Shocked, Qui-Gon had not taken this well. Though no permanent rift resulted, he had never asked Dooku's advice about training an apprentice again. Ruak had proven Qui-Gon's opinion of his own teaching ability by becoming a fine Jedi Knight and going on to train her own Padawan.

His second Padawan, Xanatos, had not done so well. Lured back to his family wealth by his cruel and powerful father, Xanatos had forsaken his vows to the Jedi, and then sworn vengeance when Qui-Gon had been forced to kill the old man. Later, when Qui-Gon's mood was still black with regret and he had sworn that he would never take another apprentice, Dooku had shocked him again, by declaring Xanatos the guilty party in his downfall. He had not absolved Qui-Gon of all blame but he had pronounced him perfectly fit to teach another student and encouraged him to do so.

Qui-Gon had not taken his old Master's advice then, either. He had only taken on Obi-Wan Kenobi after Master Yoda had contrived to put them together. In retrospect, the Force itself seemed to have bonded them as well.

So, why did it seem that they could bring out the worst behavior in each other? He was certain that Dooku would not let Obi-Wan's mood go unchecked without severe words spoken to the boy, and discipline, if necessary. But Qui-Gon knew that this was not his way.

Now he found himself questioning, yet again, what his way was with Obi-Wan.

Kneeling on the rug by his bed, he pushed past his thoughts about the afternoon's exercise toward a deeper meaning. Some primitive part of his mind expected that a Master-Padawan bond through the Force would automatically lead to peaceful harmony and coexistence. Of course, this was not true. This had not been true with his first two Padawans and now seemed exceptionally so with Obi-Wan. Qui-Gon accepted that after all this time, he still sought that peaceful harmony. This was a worthy goal, but he erred when he expected it.

Opening his eyes, he gazed toward his now useless lightsaber, sitting on the end table by his sleep couch. He had planned to take it with him when he took Obi-Wan back to the Saber Crafting Rooms, but that activity had been usurped by Master Guiyusinth's training. They would resume their schedule after Obi-Wan arrived in the morning.

Qui-Gon rose, went to the table and picked up the lightsaber hilt. His fingertips ran down the lines of shiny silver and polished black on the inert cylinder. His thumb pressed the activation switch. Nothing happened. He had disengaged the power core after the crystals were gone. But swinging his arm outward, he started the form anyway, a complex dance too advanced for Obi-Wan's still growing awareness in the Force, but Qui-Gon wanted to teach it to him anyway.

Through the Force, Qui-Gon saw the lightsaber blade, a living, ghostly green blade of energy extending out from his hand, his arm, his whole body. He kicked, whirled and leapt across the room onto the low sitting table, an improvisation, but the form was inside him, reaching out through his arms and legs, through the Force to its completion. The saber hilt flew from his hand, bounced off the far wall, spinning over and over. He caught it in his other hand as he landed, crouched and leapt up again, kicking outward and rapidly swinging and twirling his saber.

Landing in the center of the room, he finished with one last sweep of the imaginary saber. Sighing, he felt the power leaving him. This was what he wished to teach Obi-Wan, what he wanted Obi-Wan to discover for himself.

He held up the saber hilt again. It felt warm in his palm as if it were living and active, but as the Force receded, he saw that it was dead, now only metal and hardened plastoid with cold control electronics and power core inside. It was useful only to be cannibalized for parts for the new saber that he would build, and . . . .

_I will go to Illum._

The frigid memory of that planet stopped his thoughts. He shivered. The cold, snowy winds outside and still-quiet crystal caves had bitten into the consciousness of the young man he had once been when Master Dooku, hooded and his face unreadable, had only pointed and solemnly ordered, 'Go.' to him. Nothing in his whole life had been more important than that moment had been then.

Qui-Gon hung his head. His last trip there had been almost routine, a simple, harmonious mission to collect new crystals for his lightsaber. Both he and Xanatos had been to Illum before. More than once. But. . . .

_I will take Obi-Wan to Illum._

This time, the mission would not be simple. It would be a first-time quest for his apprentice, full of complications and revelations down to the core of both of them.

_No wonder Obi-Wan was impatient_, he thought. With such an event coming for him, riding the public transit trains on Coruscant in Guiyusinth's game would be an agonizing distraction indeed.

Qui-Gon looked about his room. Everything was disheveled, displaced, the rug, the table, the floor cushions. He sighed, thinking that his room really was not large enough to do such a form properly. He began to tidy up.

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ End of Part 8 /o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\


	9. Chapter 9

**The Heart of the Jedi**

by ardavenport

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ - - - Part 9

Obi-Wan exited the stairway onto Qui-Gon's level in the Temple. He walked around the big plant, under a false skylight at an intersection of hallways. He turned to his right. He carefully looked at the wall panels in the entryways of the doors he passed.

He knew where Qui-Gon's room was supposed to be, but he had never been there before. Qui-Gon always came to his room in the morning, or when he wanted to talk with him.

He carefully noted the designations on the doors he passed in the long hallway, getting closer and closer to Qui-Gon's. Finally, he stopped before the right one. He took a breath and touched the com panel in the entryway.

The door opened.

Startled, Obi-Wan hesitated before walking inside.

The room was dimly lit and Obi-Wan touched the wall as he walked into the main room.

Qui-Gon was still in bed.

Now shocked, Obi-Wan stared. He had never imagined that Qui-Gon would not be ready and waiting for him. Suddenly feeling like an intruder, he wondered if he should leave and come back.

_No_, he told himself. Qui-Gon had told him to come to his room in the morning, when he was ready. If his Master was not ready. . . . well, that was his problem.

Obi-Wan looked down at the low table and sat down on one of the two floor cushions on either side of it to wait.

He started again.

A little cleaner droid quietly hummed over a rug that covered most of the floor between the table he sat at and Qui-Gon's sleep couch. It was a little silver domestic one, a box on wheels that cheerfully sought out and sucked up any dust or accumulation on any surface. Its green and yellow lights blinked as it slowly finished one trek over the rug, turned around and began anew.

Obi-Wan looked up at his Master again. The only lighting in the room came from the large holo-window on the wall, currently displaying a twilight-lit beach with dark aqua-colored water and tree covered islands in the distance. His eyes had adjusted better to the gloom and he could see Qui-Gon's chest slowly rising and falling in sleep.

It would have been so much easier for him, Obi-Wan thought crossly, if Qui-Gon was still in bed because he had mysteriously died in the night.

Obi-Wan knew that he could not accurately tell when Qui-Gon was asleep or not, even with the bond they had between them. He had been wrong more than once on their missions together. Obi-Wan also knew that a domestic droid would not enter an occupied room unless the occupant had let it in. He supposed the it could have been there all night, but Qui-Gon's rug did not look that dirty.

_Another waiting game_, Obi-Wan thought. Possibly Qui-Gon had been unsatisfied with how much time had been wasted the day before with Guiyusinth's training, so he needed to find new ways to do it.

_No_, he moaned silently to himself. He knew he could have done better. Qui-Gon could have seen that blind-folded. In retrospect he realized that he, Eclin and Semko had almost caught Master Guiyusinth sneaking behind them several times. He had been too distracted by not wanting to be there in the first place to make full use of what he sensed around him. He had also missed the fun of catching the bothersome Master at her own game as well.

Awareness came from patience and focus, from keeping a still mind no matter what circumstances he found himself in, no matter how irritating they were. Every Initiate was taught that as soon as they were old enough to understand what it meant. He just had a lot of trouble sometimes figuring out how to do it.

Obi-Wan glanced toward Qui-Gon again and immediately discarded the idea of simply waiting until he got up. He could starve before Qui-Gon stirred. His Master had the patience of a mountain. So, the burden was on him to get Qui-Gon up and their day started. As an Initiate, Obi-Wan had never pictured 'Get Master Out of Bed' as being part of his Jedi training.

Yelling? Turning on all the lights? Ripping the coverings off the sleep couch? Obi-Wan's ideas escalated in their daring as he pondered them. Jump on the sleep couch? Grab Qui-Gon by his hair? Grab his feet? Go into the fresher for a cup of water and dump it on his head? None of the choices that required him to get within arm's reach sounded very good. But with the Force he was within Qui-Gon's reach no matter what part of the room either of them occupied.

He finally decided that the best thing to do was to simply stand up and announce that he would be going on to second meal and then to work on his new lightsaber and Qui-Gon could join him at his leisure if he wished.

Obi-Wan turned around. The chrono on the wall panel showed that he still had some time to wait until second meal. His hand touched his short Padawan's braid. Then he pulled it away. Qui-Gon had frowned at him a couple of times the day before and Obi-Wan took the hint that playing with his braid would be a very bad habit for a Padawan to take up.

Sighing, Obi-Wan looked about the room.

A dark maroon curtain covered the wall by the entryway of the room. It changed the look of the room considerably, making it darker and more closed in.

The floor droid still had more than a third of the rug to go over. The rug itself was a coarsely woven rectangle in a dark color that might have been blue or gray in the low light from the holo-window.

Qui-Gon's robe hung on a hook, and he saw his Master's big boots by it and a few small odds and ends on the shelves in the storage alcove, but otherwise there wasn't much in that direction.

The fresher door was closed and there was a mirror on it and the wall beside it, reflecting faint phantoms of light back onto the beach scene across from it.

There was the sleep couch with Qui-Gon on it. Nothing special there.

His Master's lightsaber rested on a table by his head, with a cup and a com next to that. Something, possibly a holo-reader and tapes lay on a shelf under that. And on a bottom shelf next to a cannister and a bundle was a box of pik-sugar cookies.

The large bold lettering on the box advertised itself even in the gloomy lighting. It surprised Obi-Wan; Qui-Gon had never seemed inclined toward luxuries, no matter how small and there were rules against Jedi having food in their rooms. But Qui-Gon Jinn was not known for following rules, and the prohibition against food in the rooms was almost universally ignored by everyone in the Temple for small things that required no special storage.

Obi-Wan continued to survey the room. The table and floor cushions Obi-Wan sat at were exactly the same size and types as the ones in his room. In fact, in size and shape, Qui-Gon's room was a mirror image of his own. But the minor additions of rug and curtain and cookies distinguished Qui-Gon's room from the younger Jedi's own plain, beige box.

Obi-Wan had done nothing with the room he had been assigned to as Qui-Gon Jinn's Padawan Learner. As an Initiate, he had built model ships and filled a study table with charts and holos and data tapes. Pursuits like that were considered good for the education of the young. When he had been assigned to the Agri-Corps, at one time denied the path of a Jedi Knight, he had left it all behind, taking only what he could carry. When circumstances, and the Force he believed, had bonded him to Qui-Gon his status had changed again. But his living space in the Temple had not been settled.

He and Qui-Gon had immediately embarked on a string of missions, ending disastrously with his rejection of Qui-Gon and the Jedi to follow the cause of a young people's war on Melida/Daan. That noble cause had fallen apart with the death of one its leaders and one of his closest friends. He had been forced to call for help and Qui-Gon had miraculously come back.

The bond between them had still been there. But his position with the Jedi had not been secure.

When they had returned to the Temple they were plunged into a new and dangerous crisis, driven by Qui-Gon's fallen former Apprentice, Xanatos. They had pursued him to his death by his own hand on his home world.

Only after they had returned to the Temple the second time had they been allowed to settle on their new relationship. Obi-Wan was on probation, watched and distrusted by Masters and his fellow Padawans. The Jedi Council did not assign them any missions for a time and Obi-Wan had not asked Qui-Gon about his own solemn meditations about the past, though his Master seemed to be at ease about Xanatos's demise on Telos.

Obi-Wan's old Initiate's room had not been disturbed. When his assignment to the Agri-Corps had been revoked, nothing had been done with it. When his probation began, he was assigned his new room, one that he could expect to live in for the rest of his life as a Padawan and then a Jedi Knight, just as many generations before him had. He and Qui-Gon had taken all of his things in his old room to the Creche to be given to the younger Initiates. Jedi did not have possessions. His old room was reassigned to an older Initiate.

His room now as a Padawan was nearly as bare as it had been when he had first walked into it. He did all of his studying in the Archives, not even borrowing a holo-reader or data tape copies or computer terminal. His room was for sleeping in, tending his bodily needs and meditation. His holo-window was set to an open sky over Coruscant. Sometimes there were clouds.

Now, looking at Qui-Gon's surroundings, Obi-Wan felt weary of his own bare room, ideally minimal for a Jedi Knight, or a Padawan trying to live down his transgressions. He had no idea where to get rugs or curtains, but he resolved to at least change the holo-window. Maybe Qui-Gon would comment on it.

Obi-Wan turned and looked back at the chrono again. He still had some time before second meal. On the sleep couch, Qui-Gon had not moved at all. Even in sleep Obi-Wan doubted that he stayed that still. His eye found the box of cookies again.

There did not seem to be any good reason for him to starve while he waited to announce that he was leaving.

Obi-Wan closed his eyes and cleared his mind. The noise of his own thoughts receded enough for him to really feel the flows of the Force. Opening his eyes again, he reached out his hand.

The cookie box wobbled. Then it came shooting straight at him, too fast. He caught it and sighed. The box had come like a called lightsaber even though he had been concentrating on having it arrive with a slower and more controlled trajectory. The cookies rustled in the box when he tilted it and it felt satisfactorily heavy.

He opened the top of the box and looked inside. The inner wrapping had been opened and the flap neatly folded over and re-sealed, but most of the cookies were still there. The wrapping crinkled loudly when he opened it and Obi-Wan's eyes looked toward his Master, but Qui-Gon had not moved. Obi-Wan sensed nothing, only the quiescent non-thoughts of sleep.

This absolutely confirmed to Obi-Wan that the older man was faking. Qui-Gon preferred getting up early, but it was already late morning. He was a light sleeper on missions and he had enough control and awareness to pick Master Guiyusinth out of a noisy Coruscant concourse. He could not possibly sleep through the noise Obi-Wan was making. But if Qui-Gon objected to him eating his cookies, then he was going to have to get up and say so.

Obi-Wan extracted one perfectly round pale cookie. The top of it glistened with tiny sugar crystals and it smelled good, faintly sweet and rich.

Halfway to his mouth, the cookie whipped out of his hand.

It flew across the room, but to Obi-Wan's irritation it quickly slowed to hover in the air before lightly landing in Qui-Gon's open palm. Still lying on his back, Qui-Gon took a bite and munched contentedly.

"I suppose we should find something more nutritious for breakfast," he commented.

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ End of Part 9 /o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\


	10. Chapter 10

**The Heart of the Jedi**

by ardavenport

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ - - - Part 10

Qui-Gon weighted an end cap in his hand. Then he picked up a second one. The third one before him had come from his now disassembled saber hilt. He finally settled on the one that had come from his previous saber, but he put the other two choices away in a mesh bin, with the other spare parts, in case he wanted to look at them again.

He looked at the parts laid out in approximately the positions they would be in the assembled saber. Then he compared them to the design, glowing on the screen at his work area.

This saber seemed to be coming to him very slowly. He had changed the design several times. It had started out being very similar to his old saber, but every time he tried a prototype it felt wrong, compelling him to make another modification. Obi-Wan had already settled on most parts of his saber, including the outer housing.

He picked up the crystal chamber, turning over the translucent cylinder; silver metal studs on it reflected the work light. He wondered again if he should use a design that would allow his saber to twist and come apart in the middle to extract the crystals directly, or have only access from the ends, so the whole mechanism could slide. Qui-Gon had been satisfied with both choices on different sabers. Obi-Wan had immediately chosen the latter for himself.

Qui-Gon could not explain his indecisiveness, but the pieces he had assembled and looked over did not feel quite right to him when put together.

He had never been mechanically inclined. While some Jedi Masters designed every logic circuit, fashioned every tiny energizing rod, Qui-Gon's sabers were more a task of choosing parts and assembly, though he did always fashion the hand grip himself.

Soft footsteps approached. Qui-Gon knew it was Obi-Wan even before he came around the corner of the row of workstations that he sat at. The very faint impression that he was the person walking tickled his senses through their bond. Obi-Wan was not yet experienced enough to consciously pick out the subtleties but he seemed adept enough at anticipating his Master sometimes.

Obi-Wan appeared at the end of the row and came to him. He had been initially disappointed that his Master had chosen a workstation in another part of the room, but Qui-Gon expected that he would see the wisdom of them not looking over each other's shoulder while they worked.

He turned to his waiting apprentice.

"You have a question?" he asked.

Obi-Wan held out his hands. He had four different power cores, all the same size, but different types.

"I'm not sure which one would be best," he explained.

"Aah," Qui-Gon responded, understanding. The choice of power core was one of the simplest for a lightsaber. The size, shape and shielding of it was more important than the power specifications. Qui-Gon had already selected a new one for himself, exactly the same type as the one in his old saber; one choice that he did feel confident in.

He took the four cylinders and lined them up on the edge of his work area. As he handled them, he immediately knew which one he thought would be best for Obi-Wan, but he said nothing. He needed to show Obi-Wan how to choose, not to make the choice for him. The details of this choice were not taught to Initiates, only Padawans, but Obi-Wan had been doing so well with building his saber, Qui-Gon had thought that he might wait until he had a complete assembly before showing him.

Taking a thick, flexible square from the back of his work area, he wrapped it around the first shielded core. That approximated the diameter of the completed saber hilt. He waved it up and down, explaining to Obi-Wan what he should and should not be looking for. "Let me show you," Qui-Gon said.

Obediently, Obi-Wan took the wrapped power core, closed his eyes and cleared his mind. Qui-Gon got up and moved behind Obi-Wan. His large hands easily covered Obi-Wan's wrist and hand. He guided Obi-Wan through the motions of testing the feel of the power core. Qui-Gon taught every new form or lightsaber technique the same way, guiding him through the motions, the Force flowing between them so that Obi-Wan's mind and body would know exactly what he was to learn.

For this lesson, Qui-Gon revealed something new.

Even with an inactive power core a Jedi could sense how the Force would flow through body, saber and blade. The crystals and focusing rings contained and directed the blade, but the true power of the Force flowed into the core, renewing the energy of the blade. Lightsabers were designed that way so that even untrained Initiates would instinctively wield them that way as long as they used the Force.

Qui-Gon's last lightsaber had been constructed with a new and fully charged power core. In all its years of use, he had never needed to recharge it.

Speaking softly, Qui-Gon guided Obi-Wan's arm through the gentle sweeps and arcs that he had used. Eyes wide with surprise, Obi-Wan gasped, his hand held between Qui-Gon's and the power core. Obi-Wan already knew about the intuitive power of using a lightsaber and that the Force could renew the blade. Qui-Gon now taught him more about the control, how he would consciously strengthen it and how he would let it guide him.

Qui-Gon lowered Obi-Wan's arm.

"Now wait," he said before Obi-Wan could speak. He put back the power core, picked up the next one in the row and wrapped the flexible square around it. His hands once again enclosed Obi-Wan's, which held the new core. He again took his apprentice through the same motions.

"Feel the difference?" he asked over Obi-Wan's shoulder. He nodded, but didn't speak. They did the same for the other two power cores, then Qui-Gon resumed his seat, facing Obi-Wan.

"Now try again, with each of them." Obi-Wan silently nodded and tested them one at a time. Qui-Gon could sense his new awareness. The flow of the Force was a gentle breeze now compared to the torrent it could be with an active lightsaber, but the basic idea was the same and Obi-Wan had clearly grasped it. But Qui-Gon also sensed a discord accompanying it. Obi-Wan's awareness improved with each core, but his expression grew increasingly unhappy about it.

He asked Obi-Wan if he now knew which one to choose. Obi-Wan pointed at the one Qui-Gon had expected him to. Qui-Gon smiled.

"Something else is disturbing you, Obi-Wan," he said. His apprentice's eyes looked downward. Qui-Gon waited patiently for him to speak.

"I just sensed how strong you are in the Force, Master." Obi-Wan stopped averting his eyes and straightened. "And that I know now that I will not be." He looked like he was expecting a punishment.

Qui-Gon stared back.

"I have many years of experience, compared to which, you are still a youngling. You cannot know how your abilities will change as you mature."

Obi-Wan nodded sincere agreement to that. "I know that, Master, but -"

"No, Obi-Wan." Qui-Gon cut him off to squash this sudden, inexplicable defeatism. "Your abilities will be what they will be. Do not anticipate them. Any predictions you manufacture for yourself will become self-fulfilling, and I will not allow that."

"I only meant. . . . that I know I won't become as powerful as -"

"No, Obi-Wan." Qui-Gon waved his hand downward to cut him off again; this line of thought was even worse. "Wielding a lightsaber is not about power, young one. If it were, then Jedi would hurl Sith lightning instead of channeling the energy through the blade. The lightsaber is also the instrument and symbol of a Jedi's control and connection to the Force, not just its power."

"Yes, Master." Obi-Wan replied quietly. Qui-Gon looked at him critically. He read only confusion and hurt from his apprentice. More words would either encourage this new attitude or harden it into stubbornness.

"We will include this in all our future training. Tomorrow." A look of surprise briefly crossed Obi-Wan's face before retreating to neutral. They had been planning on one more training session before last meal. "In the meantime, I would suggest you meditate on what I have said."

Subdued, Obi-Wan silently nodded, collected his power cores and left. Qui-Gon turned away from his departure, back to the pieces of his own work.

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ End of Part 10 /o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\


	11. Chapter 11

**The Heart of the Jedi**

by ardavenport

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ - - - Part 11

Obi-Wan was not very interested in eating; he had come to the dining hall out of habit. But when he saw his friend, Bant, in the crowd he had sought her out. They got trays and food together and found a table where they could speak privately. Bant's eyes kept looking around and Obi-Wan said nothing about Qui-Gon's conspicuous absence. By the time they sat down, her expression had become fearful.

He and Bant had been Initiates together and she had shown him only kindness during his probation. The young Calamari girl was well aware of Obi-Wan's difficult apprenticeship. As soon as they sat down, she told him that she had heard that he was commended by the Council for saving Qui-Gon's life on their last mission.

Then she had asked how he and Qui-Gon were doing. Obi-Wan assured her that they were both fine and that he was building a new lightsaber.

"Qui-Gon is not with you," she pointed out quietly. "I always see you eating together."

Obi-Wan lowered his eyes. If he wished to talk with her about Qui-Gon's lecture, then he would first have to tell her about it.

Bant listened, her large, silver eyes attentive while Obi-Wan told her what had happened. They sat together in the dining hall amidst the murmur of evening conversation from the Jedi at the tables around them. He told her what he had sensed when Qui-Gon had showed him how to choose a power core for his new saber.

Obi-Wan knew he was strong with the Force, and Qui-Gon's teachings had always reinforced that in him. He knew that just a year ago, before becoming Qui-Gon's Padawan, he would not have been able to act as he had during his last mission. But Qui-Gon's demonstration that day had revealed a level deeper than he had ever experienced, and Obi-Wan had known immediately that he would never reach it.

Obi-Wan had seen his Master train with other Jedi. During his probation, he and Qui-Gon had spent long periods of time at the Temple. Other Jedi Knights and Masters came to Qui-Gon Jinn to test their lightsaber skills and learn new ones. Except for a few other Masters in the Temple, Qui-Gon Jinn always prevailed in these sparring matches, sometimes easily.

Obi-Wan had observed those sessions carefully and imagined himself being that, the Master who others came to. But when he had felt the Force, pouring from Qui-Gon though him to the power core, he had realized that this would not be. Whatever skill was in Qui-Gon, did not exist in himself. It was something that was either there or not and no amount of practice or training would change that. He would be always be the Jedi who came to greater Masters to learn.

Bant's eyes were wide when he finished and Obi-Wan took a sudden interest in his soup.

"But, Obi-Wan," Bant finally said. "It sounds like you told Qui-Gon that you wouldn't be a very good Jedi."

Obi-Wan drew back. He knew he had not said that, but Bant only shook her orange-pinkish head in response to his denial, her expression sad.

"You said you would not be strong in the Force."

"Like Qui-Gon," he amended quickly.

"Is Qui-Gon the only Jedi strong in the Force?" she asked.

"Nnnoooo." Uncertainty suddenly dragged on his words. "But, I know what I felt. Through the Force. It felt like. . . . I don't have what Qui-Gon has. I could see both of us. There was something that Qui-Gon has with a lightsaber that I don't. And I could only see it then, because I was seeing it through him."

Bant pressed her thin, moist lips together. Then she held her hand out to him. Obi-Wan laid his hand in hers and looked up into her silver eyes.

"Whenever we have sparred, Obi-Wan, even though I am younger, and have much to learn, I know. . . ." She put her other hand on her breast, ". . . .that I will never be as strong with a lightsaber as you will be. That is not in me. Do you think then, that I will not be a good Jedi?"

"No!"

Obi-Wan could not imagine anyone more suited to be a Jedi Knight than his gentle friend, Bant. She was still an Initiate and nearly three years younger than he, but he knew few others her age who were more at peace with themselves and the Force. Her thirteenth birthday, the deadline when she must be chosen as a Padawan or leave the Order, was still years away, but Obi-Wan knew that a Master would take her to train.

His hand tightened around her small slender one. He could feel the Force through her soft skin, warm and moist and scented like salt water. The control and calm that he had often struggled for came to her naturally, because it was part of her, like Qui-Gon's skill was a part of him.

"I've always thought you would be a better Jedi than I." His lips curled in a small smile. "At least, a wiser one."

She smiled back. "You will be wise, too, Obi-Wan. I can feel that." She laid her other hand over his. Then her expression became serious again. "But Obi-Wan, do you think you need to be like Qui-Gon to be a good Jedi?"

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ - - -

Qui-Gon reached the top of the stairs and entered the intersection of halls on Obi-Wan's level of the Temple. He passed the huge potted plant, turned to his right and entered an empty hallway exactly like his own, two levels down, except the simple decoration on the floor and doors were tinted blue.

He stopped at Obi-Wan's door, touched the panel by it and waited. Obi-Wan usually anticipated his arrival.

When the door did open, Obi-Wan, fully dressed, nodded to him. He nodded back before entering. The room was different.

Obi-Wan had changed his holo-window from the usual sky scape to a leafy view of the gardens inside the Jedi Temple, accompanied by the very faint sound of air and plants rustling. Qui-Gon said nothing, but he did pause to look before taking his seat, facing away from the scene. And Obi-Wan noticed his glance.

Qui-Gon kept his face neutral, but an irrational hope sprang up within him. He had said nothing to his apprentice about his plain room. It was as minimal as a meditation chamber, the ideal abode of a Jedi Knight, but instead of fostering peace and simplicity, that beige void imprisoned its occupant. Qui-Gon had accepted the room as Obi-Wan's self-inflicted penance during his probation, but that time was past, and the Jedi Master welcomed the change.

"Have you considered what we spoke of yesterday?" he asked.

"Yes, Master." He sat up straight, the new lighting in the room made him look different. "I sensed through the Force that I do not have the same potential with the lightsaber that you have achieved. I must find my own potential instead."

Qui-Gon let the breath that he had been holding out very slowly.

"I would be honored to assist you in that journey." Obi-Wan's posture relaxed and he nodded. "I presume that we know what we will be meditating on this morning?" he asked and his apprentice smirked in return.

"Yes, Master."

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ End of Part 11 /o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\


	12. Chapter 12

**The Heart of the Jedi**

by ardavenport

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ - - - Part 12

Obi-Wan finished sealing the connections with the micro-welder, took off his eye-shield and held up his work. The collection of fine circuits and translucent fibers glittered under the work light. He snapped the crystal chamber and the cylinder of energizing rods into place and then slid the whole assembly into the center section of the outer housing that he had already built. It fit perfectly. He then screwed on the butt of the outer housing with the power core in it and tested the connections to the control circuitry. They smoothly clicked into place.

He pushed back from the work station and waved the half-completed lightsaber about. It felt just right. Grinning, he next put the assembly into the diagnostic cradle and started the program. Each status light blinked as the computer ran through the proper checks for his design until there was a line of only green lights on the side of the cradle.

Picking up the assembly again, he tried a few more flourishes again. He still needed to finish the magnetic collar and the emitter shroud, but those were mostly done already. After that, his assembly would be ready to test with a read focusing crystal.

_Almost done._

It was only the afternoon of the sixth day of the eight day schedule that Qui-Gon had set for them. Even with the distraction of Guiyusinth's exercise on the trains he could be done by the eighth day. Obi-Wan supposed he would still need to try it out with a test crystal, but doubted that there would be a problem. It felt right.

He pushed back and got out of his chair this time. Standing erect, he held his assembly straight up in an imaginary salute. He could sense the faint energy inside the inactive power core and even without the emitter end he could see in the Force the bright blue beam that would be there.

Elated, Obi-Wan lunged forward, his body balanced perfectly. The tip of the imaginary blade pointed precisely at a target in the air before him. He advanced, swinging the blade in wide circles, like Qui-Gon had taught him. He switched hands and whirled the saber assembly faster. He didn't feel the same power that he had shared with Qui-Gon; he sensed his own connection to the Force. Any quest to be just like Qui-Gon would only get in the way.

_The crystal, the blade, the Jedi. You are one._

Even without the crystal, or the completed saber body, he knew what that meant better than he ever had as an Initiate. He switched back to his right hand and advanced again down the row of darkened workstations. Somewhere inside him, a glimmer of what he had felt on his last mission flowed through his movements.

That was what he strove for. Reaching the end of the row, he whirled about. . . .

He froze.

An older woman stood at the opposite end of the row, her large red eyes wide and curious. She had dull gray hair, swept back from a tall, wrinkled forehead.

He hopped to attention and quickly bowed to her. She wore a dark brown tunic and no lightsaber. Belatedly he reminded himself that he was not the only person in the Temple who might be working in the saber crafting rooms.

She folded her arms into the opposite sleeves of her robe and strolled on. Obi-Wan glimpsed her smirk and heard a gentle laugh in her wake.

Obi-Wan exhaled, his moment of glory dimmed but not gone. He went back to his work station to finish the emitter shroud. If it felt this good when it wasn't even complete, he knew that it would far exceed the Initiate's lightsaber he had once used. This one would be the weapon of a Jedi.

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ - - -

"You're having trouble building a lightsaber?" Tahl asked. She sat on one of the floor cushions in Qui-Gon's room.

"Yes," he repeated.

"You're having trouble. . . . building a lightsaber?"

"Tahl," he said exasperated. She held up her hands. "Sorry. The universe just tilted and I'm having trouble adjusting to it."

"I don't know what you mean."

"You're having trouble building a lightsaber?"

Qui-Gon sighed. Her sightless eyes couldn't see his pained expression, but he was quite sure that she could hear it. They were age mates; they had grown up together in the same clan, but their friendship had not been very close until after he had rescued her from Melida/Daan, after her injury.

"Sorry." This time she meant it. "How long have you been working on it?"

"Since my last mission, several days."

"And you've been walking around the Temple without a lightsaber?"

"Yes."

Her beautiful features smiled.

"That's practically like going naked for you."

Qui-Gon sighed again and he wondered if it had been a good idea to ask for her advice after all.

She reached across the table and laid her hand over his, her strong, slim fingers finding him was little effort.

"Forgive me. You just caught me off-guard with this. How far have you gotten?" He looked into her blind, green and gold striped eyes and felt his trust return. He slid a box on the table over toward her. Her hands slid inside as she began probing the various objects inside it.

They sat alone in his room, the light over the table shining down on them. He had thought of going to her rooms, but they also served as her work area in the Temple with a sleeping room separate from the larger room with extra furnishings and computer terminals, and he did not want to clutter that up with the bits and pieces of his frustration.

She had not been happy to be reassigned to those larger rooms. She had displayed real anger about it, as she always did when anyone treated her differently since she had lost her sight on the mission to Melida/Daan. But Tahl was a Jedi and she had accepted the change in the end, though she was still prickly about any others. It saddened Qui-Gon; every flare up meant that she was not adjusting to her blindness and that the inner scars remained unhealed.

So, Qui-Gon waited quietly, not assisting her at all as she pushed the around in the box. They clunked and scraped as she felt each thing. She picked up the assembly he had constructed, her fingertips probing the outer casing. Then she put it down and picked up a tube and a power core.

"You've got enough pieces here for three lightsabers, Qui-Gon."

"I've been having trouble making up my mind."

"I think so," she answered a bit sarcastically. She put everything down, but her hands still resting on the edges of the box. "What happened to your lightsaber Qui-Gon? I heard about Obi-Wan's being destroyed - saving you - but I didn't hear anything about yours."

Feeling quite glad that she could not read his expression, he remained silent for a moment.

"It became unsuitable."

Tahl leaned back, her arms resting on the box.

"Is that what you told Obi-Wan?"

"Yes."

"And you're going to treat me like your Padawan?" The expression on her dark honey-colored features had gone cold enough to make Qui-Gon nervous.

"What happened to your lightsaber?" she repeated, enunciating each word carefully.

Qui-Gon opened his mouth to speak, but he did not know where to start and he took too long.

"Fine." Tahl put her hands on the table and started to rise.

"I lost the crystals."

Tahl stopped. Then she settled back down. She pushed the box to the side and leaned forward.

"I have to hear this," she said, her voice low with anticipation.

Qui-Gon told her about going to the Crystal Chamber, to meditate on how Obi-Wan had constructed his first lightsaber and he how might guide him with building a new one. He told her about raising the Force in all the crystals around him and recalling how he had found his last crystal on Illum. And then all the crystals had come crashing down, his own among them. Tahl listened, her sightless eyes attentive, as she listened to what he described.

"Well, if that's not a sign from the Force, I don't know what is," she finally told him. He nodded.

"I thought so. That I could best share the experience of him building this lightsaber by constructing mine with him. That still seems to be the case. But there is still something missing."

"Your lightsaber, for one thing." Tahl felt for the box and drew it to her again. She took out the assembly amidst the other stray parts and hefted it. "I suppose it feels alright," she commented speculatively.

"It is adequate," he admitted without enthusiasm. "I even activated it with a test crystal. But it is not suitable." Tahl had been probing the hilt, but her hands froze when he said this, her fingers close to the activation switch. "I removed it and disconnected the power core," he assured her.

"Thank you for telling me that in advance," she said sarcastically. Still holding the assembly in one hand she began picking out various parts and holding them up to the completed saber hilt. "If it doesn't feel right, then it isn't." She shrugged and put them back in the box. "I don't know if I can help you. Did you talk to Master Yoda about this?"

"Not yet," he said, sighing.

Tahl smirked. "Was he upset with you for trashing the Crystal Chamber?"

"No," he replied. "Not at all." After Qui-Gon had surrendered that last crystal from his person, Yoda had turned back to the room and gathered the Force to him. It had come in like a great warm wave, lifting all the crystals up where they bobbed and drifted in that miraculous current. Then Yoda had just lowered his clawed hands. The crystals had settled down gently into their old places, leaving the room the same as when Qui-Gon had first entered.

"Mmmm," Tahl exhaled. "That old gnome operates on a higher level of the Force than the rest of us lower beings." He agreed.

"I think it makes him extra green," she added and he smiled.

"Yes," he said so she could hear his amusement. "It might."

"Well, about the only thing I can suggest is for you to take a break. Do something else. Leave it alone for a day. Don't even meditate on it. You might be working too hard on it." She tugged on the box and all the pieces in it rattled.

"I have thought of that," he told her.

"Well, you asked for my advice, not for something original."

"I think I just needed to hear about it from someone with a wiser perspective than mine," he amended. The implied compliment seemed to satisfy her.

"So, what are you going to do?"

"Master Eenid is holding her regular colloquium tomorrow about devices used on Jedi prisoners. Most of it is standard information, but there are some new things and the practical demonstration is instructive, though difficult. Obi-Wan could benefit from the experience; some of our missions have been exceptionally dangerous."

"Oh, you don't have to remind me of that." Then Tahl's dark honey-colored brow crinkled before her expression changed to shock.

"Qui-Gon, I said take a break. Do you not understand what that means? Go spend the day in the gardens or the Archives, meditate in the center spire, go play in Coruscant traffic." She waved an arm. "Not take your Padawan to Eenid's torture seminar!"

"I think I've already tried that last one," he said, recalling Master Guiyusinth's training exercise. "Obi-Wan was not allowed to attend intelligence briefings during his probation, during which we both had ample time to 'take a break'. It is long past when he should have begun attending this type of training."

"What about his lightsaber? How's he doing? Or are you the only one on the team with a mental block?"

"Excellent. He's almost finished. I showed him how to properly sense the power core, but otherwise he has needed very little assistance."

Tahl's brows lowered.

"You sound a little disappointed about that."

Qui-Gon straightened, taken aback by this odd observation. "I am pleased that he is doing so well. Obi-Wan has exceptional abilities. He will be a great Jedi and the Force is with him."

"I just hope the Force is with both of you tomorrow," she scoffed.

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ End of Part 12 /o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\


	13. Chapter 13

**The Heart of the Jedi**

by ardavenport

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ - - - Part 13

"There are always rumors of things, energy shields, substances, persons, that do not have the Force," Master Eenid said from the lighted well of the conference room. "That they block the Force, or take it away." She slowly shook her long, shaggy head. "Nothing blocks the Force. Nothing takes it away. It comes from all living things and touches everything. Planets, stars, space itself. Everywhere." Her small yellow eyes scanned the audience above her. "The Force is the Force."

"Unfortunately, the Jedi is not such a constant entity." The Whiphid Master turned to the raised platform beside her and began holding up and describing each of the devices laid out on it. Cuffs, binders, energized cables, a barbed net, a diabolical-looking restraint chair, staffs with loops on the ends and many other things. All the devices had been collected by Jedi Intelligence and every one of them had been used against Jedi on missions.

Seated on an upper tier, next to Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan leaned forward with interest, looking over the head of the person in front of him. He had been captured, imprisoned and abused on missions but he had never encountered any of these devices, specifically designed to restrain a Jedi.

He wondered again why Qui-Gon had scheduled this class for them now. Did he expect them to go on many missions once their lightsabers were completed? Dangerous ones? This was not a class taught to Initiates. He could not think of how they could be related, but Obi-Wan's thoughts wandered to Illum. Would he need to endure pain and disorientation in the Force to finish his lightsaber? Qui-Gon had not said anything about it, but Obi-Wan realized that he hadn't asked.

_Part of Jedi wisdom is learning what the question is_, Obi-Wan recalled.

Master Eenid, a senior member of Jedi Intelligence, held up one of the staffs and demonstrated how the loop was tightened and used to hold a captive when activated. Though she was a fellow Jedi, a bit stooped with age with whitish patches in her gray fur, she looked especially intimidating holding up this device. The last time Obi-Wan had been in a room with any Whiphids, they had been trying to kill him.

Obi-Wan had expected to finish his lightsaber today, but the day before, Qui-Gon had given him the briefing materials for this colloquium. He wondered if Qui-Gon thought he was building his lightsaber too quickly. His Master certainly had been taking a lot of time on his. Was there a purpose to his slowness? It was his tenth lightsaber, so he could not just be having a hard time with it.

Master Eenid finished her introduction and invited her audience down to gather around the platform. The audience was mostly Jedi Knights with a few Padawans attending with their Masters.

They formed a circle around the platform. Obi-Wan felt a bit small standing between Qui-Gon Jinn and Mace Windu, a powerful Master and a member of the Jedi Council. Eenid began distributing smaller devices, reminding all recipients of their use and effects.

Obi-Wan had read the briefing materials on all the restraint devices and looked at the holos of them; the colloquium reinforced that learning with experience, bridging the difference between knowledge and information. Ever since he had been old enough to read and absorb holo-info to memory, all of Obi-Wan's learning had been that way. The difference now was that he no longer followed the regular schedule of an Initiate and Qui-Gon chose and attended many of these classes with him.

Eenid reached them. She was well over two meters tall and Obi-Wan looked up at her warily. But instead of handing them one of the smaller devices, Eenid bent forward, speaking softly to his Master.

"Qui-Gon, if I may beg your assistance, I believe that many here may be reluctant to be first for the Ad-Uloum's Throne." Obi-Wan's eyes followed Eenid's clawed finger, pointing at the evil-looking chair on the platform. The name referred to its builder.

"Of course," he nodded smiling toward her.

She bowed her large head over him. "I am in your debt. You will need to remove your foot coverings."

They went to the platform. Qui-Gon sat down on the edge and began unbuckling the top straps on his boots. Obi-Wan looked about. Eenid had broken everyone up into nine smaller groups, each one had a few devices to test. Obi-Wan saw that their group was assigned the chair, a pair of metal arm bracers, a set of wrist and ankle cuffs, and a long electro prod with a cuff at the end. They would experience each device for a brief time while the others observed. They would only go through a few of the devices for now. There would be two more sessions later in the day.

Obi-Wan warily approached the 'Throne'. It looked dangerous enough, with a hard seat and tall slatted back; it was all silver metal and rust red rods and black cables. Heavy restraining straps hung from its sides with extra ones for a victim with more than four limbs. Its worst features had been disabled; there were sharpened pistons that drove through wrists and ankles and the Jedi who had spent two hours in it had needed days to recover in the Med Center.

Qui-Gon finished with his boots and took off his robe. Obi-Wan stood aside while he sat down to wait while the other Jedi around them muttered to each other over the devices they handled.

"Do you know Master Eenid?" Obi-Wan asked.

Qui-Gon nodded. "It has been some time, but we have been on missions together, the first time when we were Padawans." Obi-Wan watched her assist another Jedi with lengths of cable. She moved slowly and carefully; age has not been as kind to her as it had been for Qui-Gon. But with the Force, Obi-Wan knew she could be more than a match for the Whiphid brutes who had threatened him the year before.

Obi-Wan bit his lower lip, took off his own robe and laid it down on the platform next to Qui-Gon. Piles of various shades of brown robes draped over the edge of the platform.

"You are nervous, my Padawan."

Obi-Wan whirled about. Qui-Gon sat quietly in the chair, surrounded by silver metalwork, his bare feet on the foot rests, his arms folded before him.

"I know I shouldn't be, but I. . . . don't think this will be pleasant." He wanted to ask why they were there, but he did not know how. He knew why he would need to learn these things, but was there some underlying reason why this had come up now?

"Calm, Obi-Wan. Beings who use devices such as these rely on you fear as much as their technology. Do not anticipate what is to come. That will only feed your fear. Now is the time for you to observe and learn this, so you will be prepared should you need it." Not quite a rebuke, Qui-Gon's words were stern. Obi-Wan breathed deeply, slowly, letting his fears flow out of him, into the Force around him. Immediately, Obi-Wan realized that everyone else in the room was already doing the same thing, including Qui-Gon.

Suddenly feeling stupid that he was the last person to do something so obvious, he closed his eyes, pushing past that distraction.

On the other side of the platform, Eenid activated the first device. Obi-Wan started, feeling the jolt through the Force, a living being smothering in prickly static. He tentatively probed what he sensed like a fresh wound. He knew what caused it, what others had reported about it, but now he knew what the words meant. The devices were all variations on neural disruptors that overloaded or corrupted the senses that a Jedi needed to use the Force.

A heavy footstep on the platform stopped next to him. Opening his eyes, he saw Eenid looming over Qui-Gon, wrapping straps around his ankles, then his legs and arms. Cables went across his chest and then around his neck. Eenid touched a switch.

Qui-Gon's whole body tensed, but the straps held him in place. His pupils contracted to almost nothing in the sightless circles of blue of his eyes.

Eenid moved on to the next group waiting for her.

Obi-Wan now felt like a moving film covered his whole body, like the air had become filthy and thick. Faint prickles moved over his wrists and ankles. But it did not overwhelm him; he just suddenly felt uncomfortable. Was it from his bond with Qui-Gon through the Force? Did everyone else feel the same thing? More or less than he? He breathed deeply again, minding Qui-Gon's instructions.

The others in their group also observed. Along with Mace Windu there were five other Jedi Knights and one other Padawan, everyone's attention turned toward Qui-Gon. The discomfort that Obi-Wan felt mirrored on his own body remained constant. He lowered his head, his thoughts testing his bond to Qui-Gon. Static hazed over his Master's usual strong presence, like a bad com signal.

Qui-Gon remained fixed in the chair, obviously unaware of his audience. His fingers, spread out and rigid, trembled slightly. whitened tendons stood out on the backs of his hands and in his neck, yet Obi-Wan could not reconcile this obvious distress with what he sensed through the Force. Was Qui-Gon controlling his pain? Obi-Wan caught himself breathing shallowly, mimicking what Qui-Gon was doing.

Eenid returned and touched the switch on the chair.

Qui-Gon slumped forward, gasping for air. Eenid quietly thanked him as she took off the cables and restraints. Obi-Wan stepped forward to assist, but Qui-Gon recovered quickly, standing on his own and waving off any help. Eenid moved on. They were left to discuss the experience before she returned for the next volunteer.

"The effect is quite comprehensive," Qui-Gon assured them, folding his arms before him. He did not look any worse than he might if he had been exercising, but a slight waver in his voice told Obi-Wan that it had been somewhat worse than that. He looked down at the flat seat of the chair.

"I found any control of the Force impossible, though I could still feel it, distantly. All muscle control is lost, and " Qui-Gon continued, "unnecessarily so. Far less would be needed to immobilize a captive." A short woman in their group asked if what he could sense of the Force could be nurtured into something stronger with time, but Qui-Gon shook his head. The combination of physical and neural stress blocked his ability to draw strength from the Force, leaving him unable to compensate or adjust to it. All his energy had gone into suppressing pain inflicted by the neural stimulation. A few others asked questions as well.

Obi-Wan listened carefully, but he continued to study the chair. He touched one hard armrest. He supposed that his turn was next.

By the time there were no more questions, Obi-Wan saw Eenid returning. He moved to the front of the chair, but remembered that he had to take his boots off. He bent over.

A hand touched his shoulder.

"No."

Surprised, Obi-Wan looked up from Qui-Gon's bare feet to see him shaking his head. He straightened, not sure what to say. Had Qui-Gon brought him just to observe? Obi-Wan suddenly felt acutely aware that, like his last mission, he was conspicuously the youngest person in the room.

"You do the boy a disservice by not allowing him to prove himself," a deep voice said. It was Mace Windu. Qui-Gon straightened, his expression cool.

"I do not recall asking for your advice, Master Windu." Qui-Gon's hand rested on Obi-Wan's shoulder, leaving him uncomfortably between the two. Mace's dark eyes fixed on his fellow Master.

"I only meant to say that if he is here to learn, the best way to do it would be by experience. Otherwise, why come at all?" Everyone else in the group remained silent though a few looked critically toward Mace for improperly questioning another Master about his apprentice. But Obi-Wan wondered if Mace Windu was right. Did Qui-Gon not have confidence in him to do it?

Eenid moved forward.

"We shall demonstrate the arm restraints next." She handed Obi-Wan the metal arm bracers. "Everyone shall have their turn," she said to Qui-Gon. "In their own time," she finished to Mace. She guided Obi-Wan to sit on the platform.

Relieved to be out of the middle of the confrontation, he listened carefully to Eenid's instructions as she put the arm bracers on him.

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ End of Part 13 /o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\


	14. Chapter 14

**The Heart of the Jedi**

by ardavenport

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ - - - Part 14

"Stay here," Qui-Gon advised. "Wait."

Obi-Wan silently nodded. His apprentice sat next to him on the edge of the platform, his legs dangling over the side while Qui-Gon's feet touched the floor. Behind them the session continued on without them. There was much less talk now than there had been during the first session. Eenid's colloquium had taken most of the day, with its three sessions spaced by long breaks when everyone recovered. This last session was almost finished. Obi-Wan was done for the day.

He had done well with the with various types of electro-shackles, the collar and even the larger devices. Obi-Wan had dutifully reported his experiences; no one had asked him any questions for the simpler things, but he had eagerly replied to a few inquiries he did get for the larger ones.

However, the last device, the stat-net, had overwhelmed him. He had trembled violently for a few seconds after it was thrown over him, then curled up on his side and passed out. Eenid removed it immediately, her long claws being insensitive to its effects. As soon as the net was gone, Obi-Wan had begun to recover, but he still looked pale and sweaty.

Qui-Gon continued rubbing his back and Obi-Wan silently accepted the strength offered to him. Qui-Gon could feel him getting stronger, his nausea receding, but his Padawan's embarrassment remained. Obi-Wan was not the only person to have fainted that day, but Qui-Gon did not think he would take any comfort in the reminder. After he recovered they would bow their appreciation to Eenid and leave. A few others had already finished and left.

"I'm sorry, Qui-Gon," Obi-Wan said, addressing the floor. He looked up at him to speak.

"You were right to not let try the Ad-Uloum's Throne. I would have been. . . . . unprepared." He sounded guilty, but he met Qui-Gon's eyes.

"You were prepared to test it yourself," he noted. Obi-Wan nodded solemnly.

"I would have been wrong," he stated.

Qui-Gon slowly shook his head.

"Our purpose is to learn. Not to endure as much shock and pain as possible without fainting."

Obi-Wan glanced back to where Mace Windu sat in the Throne, waiting for Eenid. "Why did you stop me?"

"Because it is difficult to teach you anything when you are unconscious."

A corner of Obi-Wan's mouth twitched upward. Qui-Gon smiled back to encourage it.

"Training such as this tests our limits, to prepare us for what we may face as Knights. But the test is not the goal. You are young, Obi-Wan, and do not know your limits. I am to guide you in that and I see little value in pushing you past where you cannot go." Qui-Gon told him.

He knew without a doubt that in the same situation his own Master Dooku would have had him try the restraint chair and that he would have earnestly done so. Possibly managing not to pass out, but very likely not. Much of his own training had been about testing his limits, and extending them. Qui-Gon did not regret it, but he learned from training his first Padawan that he did not care for always testing limits. Especially when it was at the expense of the actual lesson. The method was too manipulative and he did not learn much himself, teaching that way. At least not anything that he cared to know.

"I thought maybe you were testing me," Obi-Wan said quietly. Surprised, Qui-Gon looked down at him as if Obi-Wan had been picking up his thoughts, which he might have been. "For Illum," he finished.

Qui-Gon continued to stare, now realizing that they were both talking to each other, but thinking about completely different things. That, more often than not, led to disaster between them.

"No," he answered. "You are ready for Illum, Obi-Wan." He laid his hand on Obi-Wan's shoulder. "But apparently, I am not, and need to be tested."

Now Obi-Wan looked baffled.

"My own lightsaber is not going well, "Qui-Gon said, "and I am at a loss to explain why, but none of the designs I have tried have been satisfactory."

Obi-Wan mutely stared up at him, his eyes wide with surprise, and Qui-Gon realized that there was no reason for him to expect such a thing from his Master. Qui-Gon certainly had not expected it from himself.

Obi-Wan lowered his head and then raised it again.

"Can I help?" he asked.

Qui-Gon looked down at those earnest blue-gray eyes and the answer immediately flooded into him.

_Yes._

He had planned to try one more time assembling his lightsaber before going to Master Yoda and accepting whatever cryptically instructive advice the ancient council member had.

It had not once occurred to him to ask Obi-Wan for his help.

_The journey of Master and Padawan is a shared one. The Master may guide the Padawan, but when both teach, they both learn._

He sagged as he realized what he had been missing for days, the learning that also came from the shared journey. Their lightsabers had become a shared journey, but he had treated it as separate teaching and learning, from him to his apprentice, with no thought that Obi-Wan's own experience had any relevance at all.

He nodded, smiling.

"Yes," he said. "I think you can."

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ End of Part 14 /o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\


	15. Chapter 15

**The Heart of the Jedi**

by ardavenport

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ - - - Part 15

Obi-Wan looked down at the collection on Qui-Gon's work station. They had taken apart the lightsaber assembly and laid the parts out on the outline diagram. Then Obi-Wan lined up all the extra parts by type. There were four different control modules of different shapes, seven crystal chambers, three focusing pins, three magnetic rings, nine emitter assemblies, two processor wafers that didn't seem to fit anywhere, a magnetic coil with extra fiber connecters wound around it, plus several combinations of these and other parts.

The whole confusion of lightsaber innards covered the work area with a line of small pieces covering part of the lighted design display. The only parts that completely matched the diagram were the outer housing, the shielded power core and a switch with a ring of energizing rods attached to it.

Obi-Wan grimaced and then suppressed the expression. He could not just blurt out, 'What a mess!', but he couldn't think of anything really constructive. When he had offered to help, that had seemed to be the natural thing to say, but the actual help was a bigger problem than he had expected. He looked toward his Master.

"Do you build all your lightsabers this way?"

Qui-Gon sadly shook his head.

"No. I normally start with the design, build that and then make changes depending on how it feels."

That sounded exactly the way Obi-Wan had been taught to build a lightsaber. He supposed that the building of lightsabers had not changed in some time.

"Maybe if you started out with the original design again we could find out where it went wrong?"

From the unenthusiastic expression on Qui-Gon's face, he knew immediately that his Master had already tried that obvious method, probably more than once. But the older man reached for the power core and outer housing and began to assemble it.

"Wait." Qui-Gon looked up, in the midst of reaching for the next part. "How does that feel?"

Qui-Gon waved the assembly up and down in slow graceful arc.

"Correct," he answered, satisfied. He then slid the power core out and reached for one of the crystal chambers to attach to it. Qui-Gon's design was completely modular where most of the pieces snapped together. All lightsabers were made that way to some degree, for ease of maintenance and because the final assembly was usually completed in a cold, rocky cave, naturally formed and barren of any technology at all, in the hidden Temple on Illum. But all of Qui-Gon's designs were notably simple with pre-made parts. The only thing that Qui-Gon had personally done any fabrication on was the outer housing, and that was just the grip. And it was from his previous lightsaber, too.

When the crystal chamber was properly attached to the core and energizing rods, he picked up the outer housing. Obi-Wan stopped him again.

"Just try that," he suggested.

Puzzled, Qui-Gon again waved it up and down. He grimaced with distaste.

"No, something is not right." They began trying out all the other crystal chambers and then some other ones from the work station. Qui-Gon preferred to rely on standard parts as much as possible, keeping his design simple. He admitted to not being fond of mechanical work, which certainly explained his reliance on standard parts. They began adjusting the placement and connections of the chamber that felt best.

"Yes," Qui-Gon said; pleased, he waved the new assembly. He began sliding it into the outer housing again. It only went in part way, metal hitting plastoid with a clunk that was not supposed to happen. Qui-Gon held the inner and outer parts up. The crystal chamber was wider than the original design and off-center from the power core. He sadly looked at the old outer housing.

Based on a single rigid tube, it was strong and capable of delivering the most powerful blows. Recalling the earlier designs that he had seen, Obi-Wan realized that it might have been the same housing for the two sabers before the old one.

"I shall have to make a new one," Qui-Gon sighed, holding up the probable culprit.

They followed the rest of the design, adding parts and trying them out, making adjustments when necessary, until they had the insides of a complete lightsaber. Having tried out all of the available parts, many times, Qui-Gon was very familiar with them, so the work went quickly. Even so, the hour was late before they were finished. Obi-Wan was glad now that Qui-Gon had insisted that they go to last meal after Eenid's colloquium, before working on the saber.

Qui-Gon stood up and frowned down at the assembly, its new parts gleaming under the work light. The line of components was off center and they had needed to replace the first power core with one that included a protruding rod in its shielding to give the whole weapon better structural integrity. It clearly would not fit well in a simple tube without a lot of dead space, which was generally bad for a lightsaber. All of Qui-Gon's previous internal assemblies were cylindrically symmetric.

To Obi-Wan, it looked no more or less unattractive than the insides of any other lightsaber with components jammed together amidst connecting wires and fibers and randomly-placed colored shapes. But Qui-Gon's expression remained critical. He took a flexible pad, wrapped it around the shielded power core and picked it up. His arm swept around in a huge horizontal arc, and Obi-Wan ducked back from it.

"How does it feel?" he asked.

Qui-Gon nodded. "Very good." He carefully laid it down. "And very surprising." He folded his arms before him and bowed. "Thank you very much for your assistance, my Padawan. It was much appreciated."

Grinning, a glow of pride inside him, Obi-Wan returned the bow, "I am here to serve."

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ - - -

Qui-Gon exited the lift and stepped out onto an upper level of the Temple. Obi-Wan followed him out into the corridor to the meditation chamber where Master Yoda had requested their presence. There were real windows out to a hazy early morning on Coruscant. The plain of buildings below them was still dotted with lights. Neither one of them had any idea what the elder Council member wanted with them.

It could not have been a mission. Neither one of them had their lightsabers finished yet. Qui-Gon had made arrangements for the ship to Illum; they were ready to leave. He pushed aside his annoyance at the interruption. Master Yoda did not summon people for frivolous things.

The door to the meditation chamber opened as they approached.

"Aaaaaah, Master Qui-Gon," Yoda's rough, aged voice greeted them. The small, green master sat on a cushioned meditation platform. Three other people turned to them. "Good news we have."

"Oh, Master Qui-Gon," Master Guiyusinth cooed. "I didn't think it necessary to intrude upon you so early, but Master Yoda insisted." She clasped her hands together, nodding her brown-veiled head toward him. Behind her Semko and Eclin silently nodded their own greeting. "I was just reporting to Yoda here that Semko's powers of observation have improved tremendously. And even Eclin, though she is no longer my Padawan anymore, has benefitted greatly from my tutelage. I do not think Semko will suffer any further lapses as she did on her last mission when she was with you."

Qui-Gon was quite speechless by the woman's obvious pride in her teachings. He caught a glimpse of Obi-Wan's suppressed smirk. His apprentice had seen the same thing he had.

Guiyusinth was wearing the wrong lightsaber.

Her silver and gold weapon hung from Semko's belt. And the black and silver saber hilt that she did have belonged to her former Padawan. Eclin wore Semko's lightsaber.

"Attention to detail is essential for a Jedi Knight," Guiysinith continued to expound on her success. She wagged her finger for emphasis. Semko and Eclin were beginning to look a little uncomfortable with their prank, which went undetected by the gushing Guiysinth, whose pride was soon to be deflated by a smugly smiling Yoda. The elder Council member had obviously requested their presence just to enlarge his audience, Qui-Gon surmised.

_The Master may guide the Padawan, but when both teach, they both learn._

Smiling, Qui-Gon supposed that this lesson came in many forms. And that Yoda did summon people for frivolous things after all.

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ End of Part 15 /o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\


	16. Chapter 16

**The Heart of the Jedi**

by ardavenport

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ - - - Part 16

The ship left hyperspace. The swirls of interstellar hyperspace collapsed into normal stars and black, empty space, except for the world they approached, Illum. Thick white clouds swirled over the dark surface of this cold, harsh world, uninhabited and far from any worlds or trade routes of interest to the rest of the galaxy.

Qui-Gon piloted the ship into orbit and then descended into the atmosphere. Obi-Wan carefully watched the nav settings on the ship's computer. The location of the Temple on this world was known only the Jedi. The navicomp on their ship would be erased when they returned to Coruscant. Qui-Gon had said that he would take him back to Illum as he got older, likely more than once, when he would be expected to pilot the ship, but for now he was to be mindful. Obi-Wan watched every detail.

They soared over jagged mountains, lower and lower. Obi-Wan only saw ice and snow and rocks, no peak more distinctive than the next. Qui-Gon banked the ship hard to the left. Obi-Wan gulped and saw on the instrument panels that their small ship flew through fierce winds.

Qui-Gon landed on a flat valley floor, surrounded by steep, rock walls and activated the ship's ramp. Their hoods covering their heads against the cold, they exited onto dark, rocky ground, covered with patches of frozen snow. Qui-Gon nodded to him and then headed off. Obi-Wan hurried to catch up.

The wind still reached them far down among the rocks. It stole away the white puffs of Obi-Wan's breath and he drew his robe and the Force close to him for warmth. They had both prepared for the environment and wore insulating underclothes. Obi-Wan still shivered. And underneath their robes, in shoulder bags, they each carried their lightsaber assemblies.

Qui-Gon began to climb up an incline into a narrow pass among the rocks. Obi-Wan stayed close behind.

Obi-Wan imagined many hundreds of generations of Jedi walking this path. A year ago he hadn't even known the name of this world, that knowledge was only given to Jedi and their Padawans. As an Initiate, he had wondered about the secret Temple where Jedi went to complete their lightsabers. He had pictured something that looked more like. . . . a Temple, not the boulders and peaks they walked among. But now he supposed that if this Temple was truly to be secret then any sign of a building would make it more vulnerable. Even as a Padawan, he was not allowed to access any data about Illum unless Qui-Gon was present or until he had been there himself. After he returned, he intended to view that information in the Archives very carefully.

The incline flattened out, but the path became more cluttered with rocks and debris. In the narrow canyon, he no longer felt the wind, though he could still hear it, whistling among the peaks above. He scanned the cliffs and crags. There were large predators on the surface of this world, but he saw and sensed nothing. The life sign sensors on the ship had been clear for this area.

Qui-Gon turned to the left at a sudden turn in the path, but instead of going forward again, he vanished behind a tall rock wall. Startled, Obi-Wan followed and found himself standing next to his Master facing an opening in the rock wall ahead of them, surrounded by a tumble boulders.

The black fissure was more than tall enough for Qui-Gon and wide enough for them to walk in together. It looked like nothing more than a natural cave, but Obi-Wan thought that he saw a faint reflection of blue-green in its darkness.

They entered and passed through a dark, winding tunnel of rock. His eyes adjusting to the gloom, he saw that there was something ahead beyond Qui-Gon's tall shoulders. He stepped carefully over the uneven floor, the sound of their boots loud in the confined space.

Emerging from among boulders, Obi-Wan felt the chill of the air diminished. They entered a huge, natural cavern. Qui-Gon descended down wide, roughly carved flat levels of rock that served as steps, but Obi-Wan stared upward. He felt as if he had just entered the Temple on Coruscant. The Force was strong in this place and it flowed in him easily. Stars of blue and green sparkled with their own phosphorescence the walls and ceiling.

"Where does the light come from?" he asked.

Qui-Gon stopped and turned back to him.

"Collectors on the rocks above. They channel the daylight to panels inside. It is passive technology. It cannot be detected," he said, his voice echoing faintly in the cavern. Then he continued on into the Temple. Obi-Wan hurried down after him.

In the center of the cavern, Obi-Wan turned around, staring at the cavern. Rock paths led to dark caverns in the walls. A spiral path had been carved in the wall going up and up around the wall toward the ceiling, but otherwise little had been done to change the cavern from its natural state. And the crystals were everywhere.

Obi-Wan recalled the Crystal Chamber, where he had constructed his first lightsaber as an Initiate. He could feel now how that place had been fashioned after this Temple, but it was like comparing his own faltering abilities to Qui-Gon's steady strength.

Qui-Gon took a seat on the surface of a flat rock and folded his legs before him, his hands resting on his knees. Obi-Wan saw many other rocks like it randomly scattered around them. He sat down, facing his Master, waiting for whatever new wisdom would come, but Qui-Gon just sat there, his eyes closed, his expression. . . . serene.

After some time, Obi-Wan felt that he had absorbed as much of the grandeur of Illum as he could and his bottom was feeling the cold of the hard rock under him, even through his insulated underclothes. Drawing the Force to him more strongly, that minor discomfort went away, but he was now reminded of Qui-Gon's waiting game in his room in the Temple. There were no boxes of cookies that he might hurl at his Master here, so Obi-Wan now settled for speaking aloud.

"Master, what do we do now?"

Qui-Gon's dark blue eyes opened and his bearded face smiled under the hood of his robe.

"Now we find our hearts, Obi-Wan."

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ - - -

_"The crystal is the heart of the blade._

_The heart is the crystal of the Jedi._

_The Jedi is the crystal of the Force._

_The Force is the blade of the heart._

_All are intertwined._

_The crystal, the blade, the Jedi._

_You are one."_

Qui-Gon recalled the words of that ancient Jedi verse as he ducked his head under a low part of the ceiling of the cave. The lighting in the side tunnels of the Illum Temple was poor in places. He touched the sides of the walls as he climbed over the rocks. His fingers slid across rough, jagged stone and the smooth, embedded crystals. His fingertips continuously probed the Force, seeking any slight tingle, any pull that would guide him further, but he sensed nothing other than the ambient energy of the Temple.

He entered a wider part of the tunnel and straightened. More light filtered down from hidden recesses above. Reaching up, he touched a solid ceiling and more mute embedded crystals. Turning around, the tunnel he had just come from looked dark, like a murky past. Ahead, he saw more light, much further down at a turn in the tunnel. Qui-Gon hoped that Obi-Wan was doing better than he. He had not mentioned to the boy that the quest to complete a lightsaber on Illum could, in unusual cases, take days. Too much anticipation could sometimes spoil an experience.

Lowering his head, Qui-Gon moved forward again, hands on the walls as if he were pulling himself through the tunnel. The crystals he passed glowed very faintly. Apparently at some times of the day, the light from above reached down into this long stretch of tunnel leaving behind enough energy to be trapped as a spatter of blue and green in the blackness.

He turned left. Crouched with one hand on the ceiling, Qui-Gon's shoulders slumped.

The tunnel had led him back to the Temple's central cavern.

Qui-Gon looked behind him. Even the faint crystal glows seemed to be gone. There was nothing for him there. Feeling very weary, he walked forward, stepping over the uneven floor and straightening as the tunnel grew larger. His days of pushing back frustration just assembling his lightsaber came back to him. Obi-Wan could not help him with this. His Padawan had his own quest to complete.

He heard footsteps, lightly running, jumping over the rocks, coming closer.

Obi-Wan leaped from a ledge to the floor of the cavern. Running toward him, he clutched a completed lightsaber in his hand. Qui-Gon smiled. Even if he spent days searching to complete his own lightsaber, Obi-Wan's success would his ease his thoughts. His Padawan would have to wait for him to finish, but Obi-Wan needed to learn much more about patience anyway.

His face lit up with pride, Obi-Wan stopped before him and held out his completed lightsaber. Qui-Gon nodded his approval. Then Obi-Wan reached into a side pouch on his belt and brought something else out.

Qui-Gon stared, his mouth open in shock.

In his palm, Obi-Wan held out two green crystals, the perfect sizes for the primary and secondary crystals for a lightsaber. As soon as Qui-Gon saw their inviting green glints, he knew they were right. But how. . . ?

Obi-Wan's pride became tentative as if he wasn't sure if he should have picked up his Master's lightsaber crystals. He visibly gulped, frozen in place, the glittering green still offered in his outstretched hand..

Qui-Gon could not say if he should have or not. In the entire history of the Jedi Order, Qui-Gon did not know of any instance of this happening before. Jedi always built their own lightsabers and found their own crystals with the Force.

"Aaaaaaah, that was very clever of you."

Obi-Wan jumped, whirled and took a step back from the older man who approached him. But his apprentice's surprise could not possibly have been greater than Qui-Gon's own.

"Please, close your mouth, Qui-Gon, and at least try to look less like a peasant than you usually do," Master Dooku admonished. Qui-Gon shut it.

His old Master looked more aged since the last time he had seen him. It had been a few years, but the difference surprised Qui-Gon. The lines on his face had deepened and he had let his hair and beard go nearly white. But his intense brown eyes still pinned him with a critical glare. He stood tall and powerful, his tunics, the color of withered leaves, as crisp and tidy as he always wore them, dark brown robe flowing behind him.

Dooku now circled Obi-Wan.

"A very clever boy indeed," he commented, taking out his lightsaber. Obi-Wan's eyes widened with alarm. "Let us see what you can do with that." Dooku's lightsaber blade activated, blue and cold. Obi-Wan dropped the green crystals and clutched his own weapon with both hands, the new blade coming to life. Qui-Gon stepped forward to challenge Dooku, who violated the Jedi Code itself by challenging a Padawan without asking permission of the Master first.

Qui-Gon was hurled backwards, away from a sudden curtain of static and crackling energy. Leaning heavily on a rock wall, he stared in shock at the barrier of hazy red energy that had appeared over the mouth of the tunnel. Through it, he saw Dooku continue to circle around Obi-Wan who warily turned, his lightsaber raised, keeping himself facing the older man.

Obi-Wan barely blocked Dooku's first attack but the power of the blow knocked him down. He rolled, regaining his feet quickly, but Qui-Gon could see that Dooku could have cut him down then. The Jedi Master then swept his bright lightsaber blade low. Obi-Wan nimbly leaped over it, but Dooku reversed taking advantage of the time when Obi-Wan's feet were off the ground, but Obi-Wan flipped backward over the blade and rolled away again.

Dooku dove after him, attacking. Obi-Wan was quick but too small and inexperienced to take advantage of Dooku's exposed side. Their sabers snapped and crackled together.

"Master Kenobi," Dooku said with mock friendliness. "You disappoint me. Yoda holds you in such high esteem."

Qui-Gon threw himself against the barrier, but it would not let him through. His vision momentarily flashed completely red before he convulsed backwards again. His body tingling, he pushed up from the ground again.

Dooku swung his blade single-handed, using his full strength and skill. Obi-Wan staggered back, blocking, both hands on his saber hilt.

"Surely you can do better," Dooku complained, his words sharp and biting.

Qui-Gon saw the next blows coming. Dooku locked his blade with Obi-Wan's and then suddenly released and swiftly struck Obi-Wan's arm and leg, leaving behind deep, glowing gashes.

Obi-Wan went down.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!"

Qui-Gon launched himself toward the fight again.

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ End of Part 16 /o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\


	17. Chapter 17

**The Heart of the Jedi**

by ardavenport

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ - - - Part 17

Sitting on the cold ground, Obi-Wan's fingers carefully felt the curved metal, tiny control circuits, the switches. He had put this lightsaber together so many times at his work station, fitting and re-fitting the parts, testing it, making adjustments. He knew it very well by sight, but he now relied only on its feel, through his hands and through the Force.

He had searched. Through tunnels and cave chambers, crawling over rocks and peering into crevices. Not finding what he looked for, but always with an increasing feeling that it was near, just out of reach. After hours of touching and probing the walls and rocks, the tunnel went completely black. Startled, but not panicked, he had waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness before seeing that all the random, embedded crystals had apparently gone dark as well. But the Force was so strong in this place, he remained aware of his surroundings as a half-seen impression of rock and crystal. Somewhere above was snow and wind. Turning around, his eyes found one source of light, a spot of blue, low in the cave. Fascinated he had gone to it.

Obi-Wan held up the blue, precious stones, their glow faintly illuminating his hand. He wasn't quite sure if he really saw them with his eyes at all, or through the Force. He closed his eyes and he could still see them and feel the slight warmth on his palm.

Now, with the assembly nearly complete, he carefully slid the crystals into the primary and secondary chambers. The glow in them deepened. He could feel it in the hilt through the power core. He tightened the alignment pins carefully. The balance of the whole saber shifted minutely with each turn until the crystal glow elongated, became a hazy blue line extending from the power core to where the emitter.

He stared down at his work in wonder. His first saber had been so hit and miss. In the end, he had not really been sure how he had gotten it aligned other than through the Force guiding him. This time, the task had come easily, as if he were as much a part of the act as he was a part of the saber.

First checking the little energizing rod connectors, he slid the saber housing into place. He closed the saber body. It clicked. The power core engaged.

"Wwwwwhhhhhuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuusssssssshhhhhhhhhhhh-uuuuuhhhhhh."

Obi-Wan jumped up, away from the new presence he felt. His saber ignited, hissing and humming with power. But its blue light illuminated nothing. Heart beating loudly, he saw only blackness surrounding him, even the ground under him was an abyss.

A being made of darkness towered over him, twice his height with a death's head, black, glinting on black, all angles with huge, empty eyes.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO - OOOOoooo - ooooooo - oooooooooooo!!"

Obi-Wan whirled toward the sound.

_Qui-Gon??_

Then, appalled that he had turned his back to an opponent, he raised his saber defensively.

The being was gone.

Jumping out of the place of no light back into the tunnel, Obi-Wan raced in the direction of the sound, a cry like nothing he had ever heard from his Master before. Even its echo had died, but he still heard it, knew where to go, his saber lighting the way. He leapt over rocks and ruts, swifty dodged through turns and twists, but not one did his saber even graze the uneven walls and ceiling.

He emerged back into the main cavern; the light of the crystals in the rocks had returned, brighter than before. Or was the light from outside dimmer? He spotted movement below, a flash of a light tunic under a dark Jedi robe. Obi-Wan rushed down the rocky slope, over and around the boulders.

Qui-Gon was on his knees, hunched forward, but Obi-Wan halted before reaching him. He sensed a desperation that warned him not to get too close. He stood panting, frozen between caution and his drive to reach his Master.

Head down, Qui-Gon's hands moved quickly, close to his body, mostly covered by the dark folds of his robe; the dark brown looked black in the white light, and the green and blue reflections. Obi-Wan heard him breathing heavily, quickly, punctuated with high tones of desperation. And then the sound of metal clicking into place.

Qui-Gon sprang up, leaping high, a green lightsaber blade cutting through the air. Blade whirling, he landed. Obi-Wan brought his own saber up defensively, over his head to counter a down strike.

The blades never connected, never even came close.

Qui-Gon stared. Short wisps of his long hair floated about his head. Clouds of his breath billowed out when he exhaled. He looked terrifying, wild and stripped of some essential cloak of Jedi control. For a second, he didn't even look like Qui-Gon, the Force in chaos around him.

Then Qui-Gon's eyes focused on him, the calm presence of his Master reformed, spreading outward from the awareness in his eyes. He still panted with exertion, his body tensed in a fighting stance, but his posture now radiated strength, not panic. Straightening, he looked at his lightsaber blade, held it up before him.

Obi-Wan looked down at his lightsaber, still ignited, the powerful blue blade extending out from his hand. He held it up, his eyes going from tip to hilt.

Alone in the vast cavern of cold light, glittering with sparks of blue and green, Master and Padawan looked at each other.

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ - - -

They chose to share their experiences in the Temple on Illum, though Qui-Gon could make no more sense of Obi-Wan's visions than his own. They sat together in their ship as it traversed through hyperspace, back to Coruscant.

His apprentice asked what they had meant. He was too young and inexperienced not to look for an absolute answer in the swirling mire of possibilities. Qui-Gon counseled him not to push, to expend no effort at all seeking an explanation. If any knowledge sprouted from it through meditation or otherwise, then it would come on its own. To strain for it would only corrupt it.

Obi-Wan, obviously unsatisfied by this advice, still obediently accepted it. Then he slyly asked about Master Dooku. Qui-Gon had rarely spoken of his old Master to Obi-Wan. That seemed to inevitably lead to a discussion of how they differed in their teachings. Qui-Gon disliked such comparisons, but they were especially discordant when applied to a man he respected greatly. Dooku spent most of his time away from the Jedi Temple on long-term missions of diplomacy, so Obi-Wan had never had any opportunity to meet him. He was well known among planetary leaders throughout the galaxy and not just inside the Republic.

"Dooku advised me to take on another apprentice after Xanatos. I was so surprised to hear this from him, since he insisted that Ruak never reached her full potential as my student." Obi-Wan looked surprised as well and Qui-Gon smiled. "I think that he may have been admitting that he could have been wrong about his assessment of Ruak. Dooku always told me to never revisit wrongs and just do things right in the future. But I think he also never wanted to admit he might have been wrong about something."

Qui-Gon laid his hand on Obi-Wan's shoulder. "But he was right to advise me to take a new apprentice. I should have listened to him sooner."

Obi-Wan's blue-gray eyes looked up at him, then down at the new lightsaber he held in his lap.

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ End of Part 17 /o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\


	18. Chapter 18

**The Heart of the Jedi**

by ardavenport

/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\ - - - Part 18

"Here, stand like this," Obi-Wan said, demonstrating with his feet shoulder width apart. Next to him, Bant imitated him, her training lightsaber held before her, the blade pointing up and out.

"Now. Watch my feet." He advanced quickly, skipping forward and swinging his lightsaber with one hand before him. When he crossed their area of the training room, he turned around, deactivating his weapon. Bant followed him, more slowly and using both of her smaller hands on her saber hilt. She did well, with no missteps, but Obi-Wan could see how much she had to concentrate to maintain her coordination through the Force.

_Was I like that a few years ago?_

Obi-Wan looked down at the new saber that felt so natural in his hand. His first lightsaber had felt good, but this one. . . . . It was like comparing himself now to what he had been like at Bant's age. He couldn't go back to it.

Bant finished with a small flourish of her training saber and then shut it off. Obi-Wan smiled.

"That was good," he said. "Are you sure you haven't done it before?"

"Yes." She grinned back, bowed and attaching her saber to her belt. "But much to learn still, have I," she finished, playfully using Master Yoda's peculiar speech, a common jibe among Initiates and Padawans, and Obi-Wan suspected Knights and Masters as well. Obi-Wan wished he could have shown Bant the technique the Qui-Gon taught him. But even if he could trust his own abilities to do so (which he didn't) only Knights and Masters were allowed to teach Initiates in the Force and only then with permission of the Creche Masters.

They both looked toward an outcry from the next training area. Qui-Gon had just disarmed Tahl. Face down on the ground, she told Qui-Gon to let her up. He let go of her arm and quickly stepped back, keeping away from her feet so she could not trip him. She had done that before.

With an unhappy, exasperated expression, she rose. But Obi-Wan knew that if he had not defeated her when he could, she would have known it and angrily accused him of pitying her. Without her sight, she could never see the hurt look on Qui-Gon's face whenever she did that.

Tahl had no chance of besting Qui-Gon without her sight and even before she had been blinded, winning a bout with him would have been difficult. She trained mostly to defend herself, using only the Force and her other senses, though she sometimes surprised her opponents with an attack.

Extending her arm, Tahl called her fallen lightsaber to her hand and activated it, the green blade humming to life. The two Jedi saluted each other and began again.

Turning back, he caught Bant looking at his lightsaber. He held it out to his friend.

"Would you like to hold it?"

Her eyes wide with awe, she nodded and reverently accepted it. She held it carefully with both hands, the emitter properly pointed away from either of them. Her long, thin fingers touching the details on the hilt though they stayed away from the activation switch.

"What does it feel like?" she asked quietly. "How is it different from the one before?"

Obi-Wan looked at it and bit his lower lip.

_The crystal is the heart of the blade._

When he held his new lightsaber, the Force flowed easily from him through the blade. He could feel the limitless power of the Force, but also something deeper and more important inside himself.

"I guess with this one. . . ." Even deactivated, he could see the blade's faint outline. "I am the heart of the blade."

Bant solemnly looked at Obi-Wan's new saber, her hands carefully turning it to see all its details before she handed it back to him.

"Thank you," she said. He smiled back at her.

"Would you like to try again?" he offered. They practiced some more together. Nearby Tahl finally got tired of Qui-Gon knocking her down. They bowed one final time to each other and she left. Qui-Gon watched her until she disappeared out the door. Then he came to watch them, but Bant soon excused herself as well.

"You are doing very well," Qui-Gon said to her. Bant's cheeks flushed a deeper shade of salmon as she bowed. Obi-Wan grinned at her and she grinned back and left.

"You are also doing well, my Padawan," Qui-Gon said.

"Thank-you, Master." Obi-Wan looked down at the new lightsaber in his hand. His first saber had never felt so right as this one. "And for your guidance." Holding the deactivated weapon and focusing on it, he could again see the faint after-image of the blade through the Force.

"Indeed," Qui-Gon noted. Obi-Wan looked up. Qui-Gon smiled at him curiously and stepped back.

Qui-Gon held out his own saber. With his thumb, he pushed the activation switch to the side, disengaging the power core. He brought the hilt to him, pointing upward in a salute and then lunged to his side with a few practice swings. Obi-Wan stared.

A ghostly green blade extended out from Qui-Gon's saber hilt.

He knew he was seeing it through their bond in the Force, the image that his Master had for his own lightsaber. It felt like part of his Master's presence, a strong mood of serenity and strength.

Qui-Gon taught by guiding him with the Force; this was the bond between Padawan and Master. But Obi-Wan had never so clearly seen what Qui-Gon sensed before.

Looking down at his own imaginary blade, he realized that Qui-Gon must see it as well.

Qui-Gon swung his hilt around. "Shall we?" he invited.

Obi-Wan had seen Jedi sparring together with deactivated sabers before, but he had never imagined that it was anything more than a precision exercise.

Disconnecting the power core on his own saber, Obi-Wan bowed.

They saluted each other. Qui-Gon attacked with a wide, slow, but precise swing. Obi-Wan blocked. He felt the essence of the blow though his arms. Their imaginary blades locked for a moment before they released. Obi-Wan attacked low. Qui-Gon twirled away and countered. Again the blades locked.

Obi-Wan saw Qui-Gon's face through the nearly invisible crossed beams of green and blue. The deep blue eyes of the older man locked on his for a moment, the Force bright and intense between them. And Obi-Wan heard the echo of his Master's thoughts, the words themselves as if whispered in his ear.

_This is what I wish to teach you, my Padawan._

They pushed back from each other and Obi-Wan answered with his own thought. He smiled when Qui-Gon's eyes widened with surprise.

_I will learn it, my Master._

\\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/ **END** \\\'/o\\\'/o\\\'/

(This story was first posted on tf.n - 20-Jan-2007 -to- 28-Apr-2007)

**Disclaimer:** All characters and situations belong to George and Lucasfilm; I'm just playing in their sandbox.


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